NLP Comprehensive's

Summer Intensive 2004

Master Practitioner Training
(Unedited Footage)

NLP Comprehensive
PO.Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454
303-987-2224 800-233-1657
www.nlpco.com
Copyright © 2004-2006 NLP Comprehensive. All rights reserved.
 Section 1: Modeling
David Gordon

Section 2: Advanced Submodalities

Tom Best
•

Section 3: Meta-Programs
Charles Faulkner
•

Section 4: Beliefs
Adam Reynolds
•

Section 5: Adv. Language Patterns

Tamara Andreas
•

Section 6: Adv. Strategies

Charles Faulkner
•

Section 7: Self Concept Work

Steve Andreas
•

Section 8: Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Section 1 - Modeling

Experiential Array 1
Experiential Array Elicitations 1
Belief Template Elicitation (Bridget) 1
Modeling Gang 1
Elicitation Protocol 1
Lenny Array 1
Acquisition Protocol 1
Acquisition Hindrances 1
Stepping In Array 1
Blank Array (4 copies) 2
Blank Belief Elicitation Template (4 copies) 2
 Experiential Array

Experiential Array Elicitations

Belief Template Elicitation (Bridget)

Modeling Gang

Elicitation Protocol

Lenny Array

Acquisition Protocol

Acquisition Hindrances

Stepping In Array

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 1 - Page 1

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Blank Array (4 copies)

Blank Belief Elicitation Template (4 copies)

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 1 - Page 2

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NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p 2
Experiential Array Elicitation

2003 David Gordon and Graham Dawes

© 2003b David Gordon and Graham Dawes Section 1 p 3
NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Belief Template Elicitation (Bridget)
 Elicitation Protocol

1. Ask your exemplar to define the ability.

This not only helps ensure that what they have to offer is what you
want, but will help them orient their experience to the class of
experiences from which you want them to draw examples.

2. Have your exemplar identify three examples of manifesting his/her ability.

3. Pick one example to serve as the "home" example.

You can ask him/her to select it, or do it yourself, choosing one

that strikes you as particularly "juicy, " or "representative. "

Then, ask him/her to: "Tell me about [that example] as an example of [the ability]."

This is an opportunity for exemplars to tell their story, for you to

determine whether or not you need to chunk the ability into two or
more "sub-abilities, " and to identify some possible patterns.

4. Identify the Criterion operating in the "home" example.

It is not necessary to start with the Criterion, but almost always

useful, as everything in the Array (ability) happens in relation to
the Criterion.

Then, go right to the other two examples to find the Criterion operating in them, and
compare those with the one you found in the "home" example.

This will quickly either confirm that you have already identified the
correct Criterion or, if not, reveal what it actually is as you and
your exemplar compare across examples.

5. Move on through the rest of the elements in the Array in this same way, that is, by
eliciting the element from the "home" example, and then comparing that across the
exemplar's other examples.

You will find that your exemplar quickly gets the hang of the
patterning you are doing, and will start searching for the patterns
in the elements across examples even before you ask for them.
© 2003 David Gordon and Graham Dawes
NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p 5
NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p 6
Lenny Array
 Acquisition Protocol
(If hindrances arise, deal with them during acquisition)

Access It
1. Assess the ecology of having the Ability by asking: "When/where do you want this
ability, and how will it affect your life?"

2. Make a connection between having the Ability and satisfying one of the person's
Prime Motivators by iteratively asking: "Why is it important to be able to
[ability]?" until you get the point of redundancy or "it just is."

3. Set the "foundation" for the Array by having the person access reference
experiences for Supporting Beliefs.

4. Establish an actual context within which to try out the elements of the Array by
having the person identify a PAST SITUATION in which s/he really needed the Ability.

5. Help the person access the Criterion/Definition/Evidence and the Sustaining

Emotion into their experience by finding reference experiences, then have him/her
step "into" the PAST SITUATION while holding those elements in their experience.
Have them notice how these new elements change their experience and behavior.
* have the person rehearse this in other past situations until it is "working"

6. Help the person recognize how in satisfying the Criterion s/he is also satisfying
his/her Prime Motivator.

7. Have the person step into the PAST SITUATION and guide him/her through
"running" the Primary Strategy and External Behaviors. (Sometimes the person
may already have part or all of the strategy operating in another context; if so, you
can "map" it over from there.)
* have the person rehearse this in other past situations until it is "working"

8. Help the person relate the Enabling Cause-Effect to the Strategy, and notice how
it is "true" (that it does help make it possible to satisfy the Criterion).

Put It To The Test

9. Have him/her rehearse the entire Ability in another past situation, making sure
that s/he can easily access the elements.

10. Bring to the person's attention any real-world difficulties that could arise
(difficulties that could stop them from manifesting the Ability), and help him/her
rehearse overcoming them by using the Secondary Strategies.

Future Pace It
11. Have the person identify the next time s/he will be in a context in which the Ability
is needed, and then rehearse manifesting it until s/he feels confident doing it.
© 2003b David Gordon and Graham Dawes
NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p. 7
NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p 8
Hindrances

© 2003b David Gordon and Graham Dawes

NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p 9
Stepping In Array

© 2002a David Gordon and Graham Dawes

NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 p 10
Blank Array
 (

© 2003a David Gordon and Graham Dawes Blank Belief Template

NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes Section 1 P . 1 1
 Section 2 - Advanced Submodalities
BASIC SUBMODALITIES 1
Submodality Distinctions 1
Explorations Exercise 2
Mapping Across with Submodalities Exercise 3
General Patterns Tests 4
Simple Submodality Interventions 5
Looking Back and Laughing Exercise 7
The Designer Swish 8
Designer Swish - Summary Version 9
(Two) SWISH PATTERN VARIATIONS 10
TIMELINES 11
Eliciting Timelines Exercise 11
Knowing When to Change Timelines 12
Changing Timelines 13
Putting a Change into the Past 14
SHIFTING THE IMPORTANCE OF CRITERIA 15
MAKING SOMETHING MORE OR LESS IMPORTANT 16
COMPULSION BLOWOUT/THRESHOLD PATTERN 17
FANNING FOR IMPECCABILITY 18

V.
 Basic Submodalities
Submodality Distinctions
The list below is not complete, and the order of listing is irrelevant. Some of the
distinctions listed are actually combinations of more basic distinctions: for instance,
"sparkle" is made up of brightness, location, and duration. What distinctions do you
make that you can add to this list?

Visual.
Brightness, size, magnification, color/black and white, saturation (vividness), hue or color
balance, shape, location, distance, contrast, clarity, focus, duration, movement (slide/movie),
speed, direction of movement, 3- dimensional/flat, perspective or point of view, associated or
dissociated, foreground / background (self/context), frequency or number (simultaneous and/or
sequential) (split screen or multiple images), frame /panorama (lens angle), aspect ratio (height to
width), orientation (tilt, spin, etc.), density ("graininess" or "pixels"), transparent/opaque, strobe,
direction of lighting, symmetry, horizontal or vertical hold, digital (words), sparkle, bulge,...

Auditory.
Pitch, tempo (speed), volume, rhythm, continuous or interrupted, timbre or tonality, digital,
associated/dissociated, duration, location, distance, contrast (harmony/dissonance), figure/ground,
clarity, number, symmetry, resonance with context, external/internal source, monaural/stereo,...

Kinesthetic.
Pressure, location, extent, texture, temperature, movement, duration,
intensity, shape, frequency (tempo), number,... One useful way to
subdivide kinesthetic sensations is the following:
1. Tactile: touch; the skin senses.

2. Proprioceptive: the muscle senses and other internal sensations of posture, breathing, etc.

3. Evaluative meta-feelings ABOUT other perceptions or representations, also called

emotions, feelings, or visceral kinesthetics because they are usually represented in the
abdomen and chest or along the mid-line of the torso. These feelings are not direct
sensations/perceptions, but are representations derived from other sensations/perceptions in
any system (VAK).

Olfactory and Gustatory (smell and taste):

The terms used by psychophysics experimenters (sweet, sour, bitter, salt, burnt, aromatic, etc.)
probably won't do you much good. The fading in or out (changes in intensity and/or duration) of
a particular taste or smell that programmer identifies as relevant in the client's experience may be
quite useful. Odors and tastes are very powerful anchors for states.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 1

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Explorations Exercise
Exercise I (Trios, 20 minutes total)
Take one submodality at a time from the list, and each of you simultaneously try using it to
change an experience as a joint research project. Briefly share your experiences with each other
before going on to try another submodality.

Change only one submodality at a time to find out how it changes the impact of the experience.
Be alert to ecology! This is only exploration. If a shift is unpleasant or brings up objections,
respect that and explore something else. Notice the following:

a. Do any other submodalities shift along with it? b. Does your feeling change, in either
intensity or quality?
b. Ask yourself, "In what context might this submodality shift be useful?" "How could I
use this to make my life better?"
c. Be sure to try some Auditory and Kinesthetic (tactile and proprioceptive) distinctions
as well as visual ones.

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PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
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 Mapping Across with Submodalities Exercise
1. Identify a problem state and an appropriate resource state. "Think of a context in
which you feel stuck, or in some way not as resourceful as you want to feel." (calibrate)
"Now think of a time when you had a resource state that would be particularly useful in
this stuck context." Make sure the resource has the characteristics that you want in the
problem state (calibrate).

2. Identify the differences between the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic

(proprioceptive and tactile - not meta) submodalities of the problem state and the
resource state. Do this without content (it will be much, much easier). You can do this
either:
a) simultaneously, by contrasting "What is different in how you experience the
problem state compared to the resource state?" or,

b) sequentially, by first associating into the problem state and getting some of the
submodalities, and then associating into the resource state and finding out if these
submodalities are the same or different in the resource state.

"Put yourself into the problem state for a moment. What are you most aware of?" (This
way you find out what is salient to them about the experience, without prejudicing them.)
Check for both internal and external experience—"How do you see things on the outside?
How do you see things on the inside?"

3. Map Across: "Now put yourself back into the problem state context. Keeping the
same content, I'm going to ask you to change the way you experience that content." Have
the client change visual and auditory submodalities (and kinesthetic ones, only if you're
pretty sure they are not part of a meta response), one at a time. Use hypnotic language to
make it easy. "You can allow your narrow focus to broaden until you have a panoramic
field of vision, etc."

4. Test: "Do you now feel resourceful in this context?" If either non-verbally or verbally
they indicate that they don't yet have the resource fully available, ask them to now
compare the "almost resource state" to the "resource state" and identify any
submodalities that are still different. Map across with these submodalities, until the state
is fully resourceful (still keeping the same "problem" content).

5. Test/Future-Pace: "What is it like now when you put yourself in that context?"
"When is the next time you will be in that context?" (Calibrate to nonverbal response.)
Wait a few minutes while talking about something else, and then test again by asking
about problem content or context.

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PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 General Patterns Tests
Keep these in mind whenever you gather information about the submodality structure of
a problem.

a. Attempt to disprove the pattern. Once you have a hypothesis about what creates
the response, hold that variable constant while changing other variables to try to get
the response in some other way. Example: if you think number of pictures is crucial,
hold number of pictures constant and change brightness, size, etc. to extremes to see
if that significantly affects the response.

b. Disproving the converse of the pattern. This doesn't prove your conjecture, but
indicates a possibility that the pattern exists.
Example: if you think large size causes the response, try making the picture tiny and
see if you can still get the response by varying other submodalities.

c. Consequences or parallels in the outside world. Assume that the person's

internal submodality relations are isomorphic to their responses in the outside world,
and use the pattern to make predictions about the person's likes or dislikes. Example:
If dimness increases feelings, predict that the person has a dimmer switch in bedroom
or dining room, or wears sunglasses, etc.)

d. Shift context or content. Test to see if the pattern still holds. Most (but not all)
submodality patterns will hold across contexts (possibly with some exceptions).

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PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Simple Submodality Interventions
1. Change Viewpoint: Change from Association to Dissociation or vice versa.
Watch from over someone else's shoulder, from above, from far out in space, from
the position of being on the floor, from the other's point of view (to get "shift
referential index" or "other" position), from between two other people; see movie
upside down, etc. (See Using Your Brain, Chapter 3.)

2. Subtracting elements: Limit experience by deleting distinctions (color,

movement, proximity, etc.) to reduce response to unpleasant experiences.

3. Adding elements: Expand experience by adding distinctions that were not made
before (color, movement, depth, number of examples, etc.) to increase response
and/or resourcefulness.

4. Integrating anchors: Use a submodality to add an incongruent (or resourceful,

motivating, etc.) content representation to the existing representation.

5. Disruption: "Crazing," fragmenting, burning, dissolving, etc.

6. Separating self from context.

a. Think of an unpleasant memory, and run a short movie of it. (Baseline data, pre-
test)
b. See yourself in the picture (dissociated). Use whatever distinctions you already
use (or could use) to distinguish between self and context.
c. Run the movie forward dissociated with self moving at double speed and context
moving at half speed.
d. Run the movie backward with self at half speed and context at double speed.
e. Now run the movie the way you usually do, to find out if there is a change in your
feelings. (Post-test)
f. If there is no change, try again, but associated, and/or try using size, making
yourself bigger than the context.

Since most people punctuate problem contexts in this way: External Cues —> Internal
Response, running the context slower than self results in the responses occurring before
the cues that are perceived to be causing them. This disrupts the cause-effect perception.

7. Separating your Internal state from your own External behavior: Use any
submodality to make a distinction between your External Behavior and your Internal
State. Do this in whatever way seems most appropriate to you. Now go through the
procedure in #6 above, but do all steps associated.

8. Separating your Internal State from your own internal Computations

(thinking): If you get into a bad state by your own internal thinking (without much
help from outside cues) you can use the same procedure to disrupt those cause-
effects. This time use any submodality to make a distinction between your thinking

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PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 and your internal state. Then follow the procedure in #6 above. Try this both
associated and dissociated to find out which works best for you.

9. The context drop: Think of a resourceful context. Have a picture of this context
come spinning toward you like a frisbee, getting larger and larger as it approaches
you until it falls on you and becomes fully three-dimensional and you're in it.

10. "In a hundred years who will know the difference:" Explore with someone (or
yourself) for whom saying or hearing this makes a useful difference (some people
only become annoyed or depressed). What does she do inside to change state in a
useful way (See Using Your Brain, p. 38). Contrast this with someone who gets
annoyed, depressed, etc.

11. Above it all: Think of a memory that still bothers you, and you'd like to be
"above it all." First run a movie of that event as you recall it now....Now make
yourself "bigger than life" until you're literally above it all, and rerun the movie of
that event associated....Now simply recall that event again and notice if your response
to it is different.

12. Kinesthetic Wave: Think of a pleasant experience that is localized in your body,
and that you'd like to experience much more of. Allow that feeling to spread rapidly
over and through your entire body like a wave. When that wave reaches your skin
(the edges of your body) it will bounce back, like a wave off the shore. It can spread
through your body again, and again,...until you've had enough for now.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 6

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Looking Back and Laughing Exercise
Framing: People often say, "Later you will be able to look back and laugh about this"—
something that is embarrassing or difficult at the time. In this exercise, we want you to
think of an experience that at the time was difficult—embarrassing, painful, humiliating,
etc., but now you can look back and laugh about it. When you find out how you did it,
you can apply it to current unpleasantness. Richard Bandler's motto is "why wait?" Do
the exercise simultaneously on your own (ask for help from others in your trio only if you
get stuck).

1. Think of an experience that was difficult at the time, but now you can "look back
and laugh at it."

2. Think of a current experience that you can't laugh at yet.

3. Contrastive Analysis. Find the submodality differences between #1 and #2.

4. Test each difference, one at a time, to find out how powerful it is in transforming

#2 into #1.

5. Map Across. Transform experience #2 into something that you can laugh at.

After you have each completed this process, "compare notes" to find
similarities in how this transformation occurred.
What elements were common to the three of you and which were different? Did any of
the different elements have the same kind of effect?

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 7

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 The Designer Swish
(trios, 30-40 minutes each)

If you can do this without content, it will make it much easier. If you get stuck
doing it without content, ask for only enough content for you to be able to get
going again.

1. Identify limitation: Ask B to think of a problem or limitation. "How are you

broken?" B can choose a personal limitation, role-play a tough client, or pretend
to role-play a client and actually work with a personal problem.

2. Gather information: Use the frame of "Let's say I had to fill in for you for a
day. To do a complete job, I would have to do your limitation. Teach me how to
do it." Find out how this achievement works: when to do it (cues), and how to do
it (process). In particular, you need to know which submodalities change in order
to create the problem.

3. Testing: When you think you know how to do this, test in two ways:
a) Ask B to take the desired self-image picture or some other pleasant
content and find out if the same process changes B's response in the same
way. An amplifier amplifies anything. By switching content you can find
out if you have found a mechanism to amplify, irrespective of content.
When you change content, the quality of the response may be different,
but the intensity will probably vary in the same way (or possibly in an
inverse way).
b) Try it out yourself. If you do what B does, is your response similar?
(B may be doing something else that you don't know about yet.) Or they
may be organized differently from you, so it will not work for you in the
same way unless you take on the same submodality change relationship
that your partner has.

4. Data: At this point you should have the following information:

a) When: the cue representation (that is dependably present) that triggers
the limitation.
b) How: the client's two most powerful analog submodalities relating to
the limitation.
c) How: How these two submodalities affect the client's response to the
cue pictures and the desired self-image picture.

5. Plan: Next we want you to design a swish for this person, using the
information that you have gathered. You will use the key submodalities to make
the cue representation begin intense and become not intense at the same time as
the self-image picture starts not intense and becomes intense.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 8

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
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 Designer Swish - Summary Version

1. Design The Swish.

Using the information you have gathered, create a swish custom-tailored to work for
your client.
Cue: begins with both submodalities at maximum intensity, associated.
Desired Self representation: begins with both submodalities at minimum
intensity, disassociated.

2. Swish.
The cue changes from high to low intensity as Desired Self representation changes
from low to high intensity.
Repeat five times, with an interruption at the end of each repetition.

3. TEST.
a. Make the cue representation. Notice response.

b. Test behaviorally by putting the client into the context in which the limitation
occurred previously.

c. Ask a question about the context in which the limitation previously occurred,
and notice whether s/he refers to the limitation in the past tense.

©2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 9

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 (Two) Swish Pattern Variations
1.) Intensifying a state (Repeated Swish)
1. Close your eyes and see in front of you a big, bright, associated image of your present
state (where you are now). In the lower right corner put a small dim dissociated
picture of yourself in the same context being more fun and outrageous.

2. Swish this.

3. Now open eyes.

Repeat all the above steps a total of 3 times.

(Build in "Recursive Swish ")

4. The third time, step into the picture of yourself being more fun and outrageous. See
out of that person's eyes what you would see, and make a small dark picture in the
corner, of yourself being even more fun and outrageous. Swish and step in again.

5. Do step #4 10 times. Leave the last picture dissociated.

2.) Using the Swish to Chain Through a Series of States

1. Use the swish pattern to chain from the first state on the list below to the last. The
context will stay the same throughout the chain.

2. First see what you see (associated) in a situation (context) in which you now hesitate.

3. In a corner, see yourself being bored, have that picture get big and bright, and step in.

4. See yourself in the corner being impatient, have that picture get big and bright, and
step in.

5. See yourself in the corner with wanton desire, have that picture get big and bright and
step in.

6. See yourself in the corner "going for it" Have that picture get big and bright, but keep
this last picture dissociated. Now open your eyes.
1. Hesitation
2. Boredom
3. Impatience
4. Wanton desire
5. Go for it!

7. Testing: Think of the original situation in which you used to hesitate. States should
chain through to "go for it." Or use a future-pace as a test: "When is the next time you
will encounter one of those situations in which you used to hesitate?"

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 — Page 10

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Timelines
Eliciting Timelines Exercise
1. Simultaneously Access Examples of Past/Present/Future.
a. Pick some trivial, everyday behavior that you have done in the past, you do now,
and you'll continue to do in the future.

Examples: brushing teeth, eating breakfast, taking a shower.

b. Think about doing this behavior five years ago, one year ago, one week ago, right
now, one week in the future, one year in the future, five years in the future.
Imagine all of this simultaneously.

2. Notice Location. Where in your personal space do you imagine each of these
events? Next, you can get a sense of where the remainder of your timeline, is. Let the
rest of your past, present, and future fill in where it belongs, making a continuous (but
not usually straight) line from birth to the present.

3. Notice Your Other Submodality Codings for Time.

Notice the differences between past and future. Notice the submodality differences
between recent past and long ago past (color, size, etc.). Do the same for your future.
Check for "kinks" in your timeline, or changes that make one portion of your timeline
more or less visible and impactful.

4. Trade Timelines with the other members of your group.

a. First carefully notice your own timeline arrangement so you can go back to it
when you are done.
b. Now "step in" to someone else's way of coding time, or "pull it on you." Notice
how your state is different. Take this with you through several major contexts in
your life, noticing what it is like. What does this timeline arrangement make
difficult for you? Are any of your beliefs automatically different with this new
timeline?
c. "Try on" each person's timeline to notice state, beliefs, advantages and
disadvantages.

For more detail and examples of utilizing Timelines, see Change Your Mind—and Keep
the CHANGE, Chapter 1, and Heart of the Mind, Chapter 19.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 11

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Knowing When to Change Timelines
Any personal outcome can be approached through timelines. What follows are common
indicators that a timeline change might be useful.

Signs that Changing Future Codings May be Useful:

1. Having trouble planning for the future.
2. Lacking goals or direction.
3. Lacking motivation.
4. Difficulty making changes in unwanted habits.
5. Drug abuse.

Signs that Changing Past Codings May be Useful:

1. Being preoccupied with the past.
2. Not being able to remember the past.
3. Not learning from past mistakes.
4. Being depressed.

Other Indications that a Timeline Coding Shift May be Useful:

1. Not having a present or a future.
2. Having a future that is very short—it ends "too early."
3. When eye accessing cues are reversed with respect to the timeline. (Normally,
past corresponds to Vr and future to Vc.)
4. Difficulty noticing the difference between past and future; i.e., what has happen
and what will happen.
5. Dark, dim, or gray timelines may be usefully changed.

There is no "ideal timeline." Every way of coding time will have advantages and
disadvantages, and with a little experience you can predict them by knowing a person's
timeline. Each of us can find our own best arrangement, and shift how we arrange time in
different contexts.

This means that when you do timeline work, it is important to make any changes with
respect to your (or your client's) outcomes. Ask: "What outcome do you want to have by
changing your timeline?"

Having different ways to code time in different contexts can give you more flexibility.
You may decide you want to keep your current timeline coding in some contexts, and add
another method in other contexts. For instance, if you have arranged your timeline in a
typical "V," you may benefit from putting your past behind you and your future straight
in front of you in some contexts. If you have done the latter, you may benefit from a "V"
arrangement in some contexts. Each has predictable advantages and disadvantages.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 12

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Changing Timelines
1. Advance Framing:
Be sure to frame what you are doing as an experiment. "You are trying another way to
code time, and if you have any objection to the new way, you can either make appropriate
adjustments, or put your timeline back the way it was." "This is only temporary, to find
out if you find advantages in doing it differently."
2. Changing the Timeline: Make guesses about what timeline arrangement will achieve
your (or your client's) outcomes.
Guideline: Whatever is most noticeable (large and immediately in front of the person,
etc.) will be responded to most completely.
Examples: If the person wants to become more future-oriented, make the future bigger, brighter,
and more immediately in front of them. Let the past slide farther to the side or behind the person.
If the person wants to become more present-oriented, let both past and future swing farther to the
side, or move the past behind the person and the future straight in front.
If the person confuses past and future, consider making more submodalities different, and check
whether past and future are in the same location on part of the timeline.
a) Identify the positive outcomes from the old timeline arrangement.

b) Try out new timeline arrangements, making adjustments, making full use of hypnotic
language patterns that presuppose that the change will occur spontaneously: "Allow it to
move to the side," etc.
c) Explore how to best accomplish all outcomes: You can use different timeline codings
in different contexts. Or, find a way to achieve the positive outcomes of the old timeline
on the new timeline arrangement.
3. Future Pacing:
When you have identified a new timeline arrangement that fully satisfies yourself (your
client), have the person future-pace thoroughly: throughout the day, waking up the next
morning with the same timeline, throughout the week, etc. Be sensitive to any objections,
using them to adjust the timeline, or to redefine the context.
4. Program Future Adjustments:
Suggest that they may find themselves making additional modifications in the future, as
they notice how this new arrangements works, and what might work even better. By
saying this, the person knows how to continue this process when future events bring
additional information and/or objections to what you have done.

Since timelines are the basis of our experience of what is real, changing timelines can
have profound and far-reaching effects. Carefully future-pace and check for ecology. If
you do not find a timeline arrangement that is fully satisfactory to your client, put their
timeline arrangement back the way it was when you started.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 13

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Putting a Change into the Past
1. Make a Change. Make a change using any of the submodality techniques we
have taught so far—for example you can map across to a desired state, do a belief
change, or build a compelling future--or you can have the person think of a
change they've already made recently during this seminar.

2. Elicit timeline. Quickly elicit the client's timeline. Be sure to check for location
and association/dissociation.

3. Put the change into the past. Using that person's submodalities for the past,
have him take the change he's just made and put it into the past, so that he
experiences the change as having happened some time ago. This makes the
change more powerful and convincing because it becomes a past reference
experience. Be sure to put at least one example in the past of behaving in the new
way. Often it's safer to put at least three examples into different times in the past.

4. Test/Check. Does the client experience this as subjectively real? If not, check for
additional submodalities to shift to make it like other past experiences, and/or put
several examples into the past.

5. Timeline Future-pace. Put the change into the future as well: Think of
something you know you will do, or will happen in the future. Make a
representation of whatever will be different due to the change you've made, and
code it in submodalities to match what you know will happen. Place this on your
future timeline, in the right context (make sure you have it occur in response to
the appropriate cues).

6. Test/Check. Is this future representation congruent with your timeline? The

outcome is for the client to have a subjectively real experience of this as
something that definitely will happen.

Notice which makes more difference for you; putting the change in the past, or putting
the change in the future. If you do both, you help to "lock in" the change with a wider
range of people.

© 2003 N L P Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 14

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Shifting the Importance of Criteria
1. Think of either:
a. An overly important criteria you wish were less important or influential in you
life. or
b. A currently undervalued criteria you'd like to more important

2. Ecology Check: does any part of me have any objections to this shift? Check
thoroughly for ecology. You may need to contextualize the shift in order to make it
ecological. If you encounter objections, recycle to 1 above and redefine the change.

3. Elicit the submodalities that rank the criteria on a continuum

a. Elicit the submodalities of the criteria to be changed

b. Eliciting the submodalities of a less important criteria
c. Elicit the submodalities of a more important criteria

4. Apply the submodality distinctions that you discovered in step 3 (the submodalities
that rank your clients' criteria on a continuum) and use these submodalities to change
the criterion in the direction you want it to go.

NOTE: Be very alert to ecology concerns when you do this, particularly incongruence or
unconscious signals. You are adjusting key distinctions in this person's life. Do it gently
and respectfully.

5. Test and futurepace

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2-Page 15

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Making Something More or
Less Important
1. A thinks of some "thing" that's important to them now, but was not in the past. Make
sure this is a " thing" an object and not a process or state of mind.

2. A thinks of something that is neutral to them not important in any way. Pick
something here in the room so you can use it later.

3. B does a contrastive analysis of the submodalities between "important" and "neutral."

Note: B should also be calibrating to A's non-verbal behavior when they talk about what
is important to them. This will be used later.

4. B's task is to use the submodalities of "importance" discovered above and make the
"neutral" item of lasting importance to A.

5. A's task now is to "blow out" the importance of the item by using the submodalities
of importance and carrying them over a threshold. B assists A as necessary.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 16

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Compulsion Blowout/Threshold Pattern
1. Choose an experience of compulsion a behavior you feel compelled (and don't want)
to do.
2. Pick a similar ( and neutral) experience/behavior of not being compulsed.

3. Do a contrastive submodality analysis with these two experiences to discover the

differences, identifying the most powerful analogue submodality differences.

4. Test these differences on the representation that creates the compulsion to discover:
a. which analogue submodality can be used to increase the feeling of compulsion

b. which is the most powerful driver of the feeling of compulsion

5. Using the analogue submodality that is the most powerful "driver" of the feeling of
compulsion:
a. Quickly increase this submodality to it's maximum and then pause for a moment
before checking to find out if the feeling of compulsion has "popped"

b. If the feeling of compulsion can still be generated, use the ratchet method to
quickly increase the submodality to its' limit, and then repeat this quickly until it
pops. Pause for a moment then test for the compulsion.

After the compulsion is gone, check to see if the client can get it back in any other
representational system. If so, identify the driver in that rep. system and repeat the
process.

Compulsion Blowout Tips :

1.) Always follow up the Compulsion Blowout with a Swish Pattern.

2.) Always check to be sure the person can now access / think of the previous
compulsion comfortably. If they cannot, then do a Repulsion blowout, by simply
repeating the Compulsion Blowout on the thing they are now repulsed by. If the
person cannot comfortably think of or be in the presence of the previous compulsion
trigger, than they are still lacking choice and that's what we want them to have -
"Choice is better than no choice. "

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 — Page 17

PO Box 648 NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
 Fanning for Impeccability
(adapted from Don Americo Yabar and Don Juan Mateus)

1. Identify an experience that epitomizes a major roadblock to actualizing your hearts

desire. This could be a problematic situation with another person, or a generalized
situation in which you feel disconnected, confused, hurt, overwhelmed, or helpless.

2. Spatially locate this experience somewhere outside yourself and then stand with it to
your left.
3. Begin with your chin over your right shoulder and coordinate the following:

External Behavior:
1. Exhale deeply and slowly as you move your head from right to left. Your chin will be
over your left shoulder at the end of this exhalation.

2. Then, inhale deeply and slowly as you move your head from left to right. Your chin
will again be over your right shoulder at the end of this inhalation.

Thought (Internal Computation:

1. As you exhale, visualize the "hooks" (or inappropriate connections of energy) that the
person or experience has attached to you being expelled from your body. Allow your
unconscious to participate. This energy may be seen as a color or shape and felt as
moving from any part of your body. It's release will tend to subtly shift your
awareness of the experience.

2. As you inhale, visualize the "hooks" (or inappropriate extension of energy) that you
have attached to the other person or the experience being drawn back into your body.
Allow your unconscious to participate. This energy may be seen as a color or shape
and felt as moving into any part of your body. It's reception will tend to subtly shift
your awareness of the experience.

Emotion (Internal State)

1. As you exhale, amplify the feelings of release and forgiveness.
2. As you inhale, amplify the feelings of acceptance and power.
3. Continue until your body registers a definite sensation of "disconnect" from the
person or experience.

NOTE: The time needed to experience a definite sensation of "disconnect" will vary
with the intensity of attachment. Repetition of this pattern can be important depending on
the degree of inappropriate "attachment" to the person or experience.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 2 - Page 18

PO Box 648. NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
Indian Hills, CO 80454
Section 3 - Meta-Programs
Meta-Programs 1
Visualizing Meta-Programs 2
Meta-Programs & Strategies 3
Decision Strategy Meta-Programs 4
Motivation Strategy Meta-Programs 5
Convincer Strategy Meta-Programs 6
Meta-Program Strategy Worksheets:
Decision Strategy Meta-Programs Worksheet 7
Motivation Strategy Meta-Programs Worksheet 8
Convincer Strategy Meta-Programs Worksheet 8
The Meta-Programs & Their Distinctions 9
Perceptual Positions & Their Meta-Programs 11
Changing Meta-Programs 12
 Meta-Programs
Reviewed, Revised & Recoded
by Charles Faulkner

"Epistemology, like art and morality, begins with drawing a line somewhere."
Charles Faulkner

What are Meta-Programs?

• Perceptual patterning that remain constant or relatively stable over a range of contexts, contents, and/or processes.
Is the glass half empty or half full? Was the movie good or not bad? Want to go somewhere interesting or just get out of here

• The distinctions in experience that make the experience we distinguish.

Experience is made of the distinctions we make. Experience is the experience of distinctions.
[The conclusions of G. Spencer Brown in his highly regarded philosophical work The Laws of Form.]

• Colloquially - the filters through which we perceive the world; perceptual filters

• Technically - The level above (meta) Strategies (programs) in the study of the structure of subjective experience.

Well-Formedness Conditions for Meta-Programs

Each is formed of the simplest possible experiential distinctions: Perceptual Primes™

Each is a different set of distinctions that are independent of all other distinctions.

Each has a neuro-linguistic form: an internal representational form, physiology, and language and/or grammatical evidence.

Meta-Programs Elicitation
All Meta-Programs are"operating" all the time. At any given time, in any given context, some of them are more in the
foreground of experience and awareness, while others are more in the background. Meta-Programs are the "woof and warp"
in the weave of our experience. Elicitation questions will net the questioner the Meta-Programs for the context in which the
questions were asked. When the questioner sets the context specifically enough, the answers are usually accurate for the
purpose of determining role bound responses: such as for a specific job or type of career. Care needs to be taken to character-
ize the person's behavior as exhibiting certain Meta-Program leanings and not the person. While the person does act consis-
tently with a Meta-Program distinction across a variety of contexts, the person could learn an alternative behavior at any time.

The elicitation of Meta-Programs from language consists of asking certain questions of a pre-determined context. The
answers may be interpreted in each of the following ways:

• Number of utterances/words. If the person uses five separate words consistent with a particular Meta-Porgram
distinction, this would be counted as five separate times the Meta-Program distinction was made.

• Intensity of expression of the utterance. While several words are used, human beings will often emphasize what
they believe or care about by a different tonality, and/ or change in volume, or cadence.

• Ranking as a sequence of utterances. When words are spoken, some will come first and others later. The first few
can often be taken as being more in the foreground, that is, more important, more on the mind of their speaker.

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 1

 Visualizing Meta-Programs

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization

 Meta-Programs & Strategies
Strategies Fundamentals
Strategies model is based on George Miller, Eugene Galanter and Karl H. Pribram's T.O.T.E., from Plans and the
Structure of Behavior, a linear programming model. All NLP Strategies utilize the T.O.T.E. process. Each type of strategy
processes a different type of information, thus being functional different.

Types of Strategies
Name Decision Motivation Conviction Memory Creativity Learning Reality
Function Selection Engage/Act Verify Reference Generate Incorporate External/Int.
Attention Choice Energy Congruence Experience Alternatives Responsiveness "Real"
Info Type Digital Analog Reflexive Access Meta / all Re-contextualize Distinctive

Some Typical Sequences of Types of Strategies

Decision - Motivation - Conviction
Motivation - Decision - Conviction
Conviction - Decision - Motivation

Which Meta-Programs "operate" which Strategies

See DECISION STRATEGIES META-PROGRAMS
MOTIVATION STRATEGIES META-PROGRAMS
CONVINCER STRATEGIES META-PROGRAMS

T.O.T.E./G.E.O.
Context
(when & where)
META-PROGRAMS
CONTENT-People, Things, Activities, Information, Place
DIRECTION - Away From, Toward
AUTHORITY - External, Internal
PERCEPTUAL POSITION - Self, Other, Observer
DECISION FACTORS - Same, Comparison, Difference

LEVEL - Sequential, Random

REASON -Procedures, Options
CHOICE - Necessity, Possibility
SCOPE - General, Specific
CHUNK SIZE - Abstractions, Details
FLOW - Deduction, Induction, Abduction

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 3

DECISION STRATEGY META-PROGRAMS
CONTENT The"what" of experience. An individual often 'uses' two of these categories in combination.

Elicitation Question: Tell me about a significant (set context: work, relationship, etc.) decision.

People [and animals]- Who - emphasis on others, relating, and / or their feelings

Things - What - emphasis on objects [nouns], verbs of acquisition/possession with concrete nouns

Activities - How - emphasis on actions/ behaviors [verbs], also verbs with physical descriptions

Information - How/Why - emphasis on knowing [nominalizations], also verbs with abstract nouns

Place - Where - emphasis on place/location and states accompanying being there

Time - When - emphasis on time and states accompanying being there

PERCEPTUAL The quantification of association or dissociation of self with self, others and observation of self.
POSITION Elicitation Question: Tel me about a (set context: work, relationship, etc.) that gave you trouble.

Self- seeing, hearing, and feeling the world from within one's body

Other - seeing, hearing, and feeling the world from within another's body

Observer - seeing, hearing, and feeling the world from within a disinterested observer's body

ATTENTION The direction in which the ability to see, hear and feel are directed

DIRECTION No elicitation question. Notice how often the individual refers self, others or observers.

Self - attention to one's own concerns, feelings, and experience; self referencing

Other- attention to another's concerns, feelings, and experiences; other referencing

Observer - attention to an observer's concerns, feelings and experiences; observer referencing

TIME FRAME The time(s) of experience referenced and/or accessed

Elicitation Question: How did you go about making that decision?

Past - referencing previous experiences, feelings

Present - referencing current experiences, feelings

Future - referencing anticipated experiences, feelings

SCOPE The chunk size of experience preferred in processing. Also the order of chunk size preference.
General - large, big picture," whole" object, state, experience

Natural - the typical example of anything; car, pen, fish, etc.

Specific - small, specific detail(s) of object, state, experience

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 4
MOTIVATION STRATEGY META-PROGRAMS
NEURO-LOGICAL LEVEL
VALUES/BELIEFS
CRITERIA: A standard to which something/someone/some experience is compared.
Elicitation Questions: What do you want in a ?
What's important about ?

DIRECTION: The direction from which the motivation strategy is activated.

Elicitation Question: "What will having that do for you?"

Toward Goals (Positive):

Language: "attain, gain, achieve," etc.

Away From Problems (Negative):

Language: "avoid, get away from, release from," etc.

LEVEL The style in which the motivation strategy is activated.

No elicitation question. Count words between sentence subject and verb.

Proactive: Active
Language: "Do it, get;" short sentences, action verbs, etc.

Reactive: Considers & Waits, Passive

Language: "try, think over, consider, could, it's possible, give;" long sentences.

DECISION FACTORS A filter used to evaluate the familiarity/unfamiliarity of an experience.

Elicitation Question: What's the relationship between and ___.?

Similarity
Language: "same"

Comparison
Language: " more, less, improve, better, -er words; bigger, richer, etc."

Difference
Language: "different, unique, unusual, one-of-a-kind, change"

Polarity Responder - "fixed" Difference

Language: will ask what you think and take the opposite position

REASON The first steps of action: Either the order or generating options for beginning
Ask why s/he choose _?

Procedures
Sequential, Numbered

Options
Random, Criteria

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 5

CONVINCER STRATEGY META-PROGRAMS
AUTHORITY Who/what is the convincing authority?
Elicitation Question: How did you know you had picked a good .?

Self - Internal
Language: "I decide, I know"

Other - External Other

Language: "Others, experts, superiors tell me," etc.

Data - External Information

Language: "Statistics show, it is rated the highest," etc.

CRITERIAL EVIDENCE
A see, hear, and feel description of what will fulfill the CRITERIA
Elicitation Question: How do you know this product is/has (CRITERIA) ?

REPRESENTATIONAL SYSTEMS

Is the Criterial Evidence taken in Visually, Auditorily, or Kinesthetically?

Visual - "See it, See the results"

Auditory - "Hear it, when it clicks," etc

Kinesthetic - Does it, "How it feels, getting touch, gut instinct," etc.

EVIDENCE PATTERNING In what way are enough examples collected in order to satisfy conviction?
Elicitation Question: How many times do you have to (SEE. HEAR. DO IT)
to be convinced?

Frequency
Language: "3 times, 3 or 4 times," etc.

Duration
Language: "at least 6 months," etc.

Automatic
Language: "1 time"

Never
Language: "never convinced, have to check continually," etc.

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 6

NAME: DATE CONTEXT

DECISION STRATEGY META-PROGRAMS

1. CONTENT
Tell me about a significant (set context: work, relationship, etc.) decision.
People
Things
Activities
Information
Place

2. PERCEPTUAL POSITION
Tell me about a (set context: work, relationship, etc.) decision that gave you trouble.
Self
Other
Observer

3. ATTENTION DIRECTION
Self
Other
Observer

4. TIME FRAME
How did you go about making that decision?
Past
Present
Future

5. SCOPE
General
Natural
Specific

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization

NAME DATE CONTEXT

MOTIVATION STRATEGY META-PROGRAMS

6. CRITERIA

What do you want in a ?

What's important about it?

7. DIRECTION
What will having that do for you?
Towards Goals
Away From Problems
8. LEVEL
Reactive
Proactive

9. DECISION FACTORS
What's the relationship between the last time you (set frame: purchased, decided, used, etc.) and this time?

Comparison
Difference
Similarity
Polarity Responder

CONVINCER STRATEGY META-PROGRAMS

10. AUTHORITY
How do you know you have picked a good ?
Self
Other
Data
11. CRITERIAL EVIDENCE
How do you know this product is/has (CRITERIA) ?

12. REPRESENTATIONAL SYSTEMS

How did you know it had those qualities?
Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic
13. EVIDENCE PATTERNING
How many times do you have to (VAK) it before you are convinced?
Frequency
Duration
Automatic
©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization Never
 The Meta-Programs & Their Distinctions
Summary of Meta-Program Categories & Distinctions
Expanded & Recoded

NAME Info Type DISTINCTIONS

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization

PERCEPTUAL ORIENTATION

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 10

 Perceptual Positions & Their Meta-Programs

TIME FRAME

PERCEPTUAL

POSITION

Perceptual Position Meta-Programs

Authority - Self, Other, Data

Perceptual Position - Self, Other, Data

[Also called Orientation]

Attention Direction - Self, Other, Observer

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 11

 Changing Meta-Programs
Richard Bandler once said to a group of NLP Master Practitioners, "You can't change Meta-Programs." He later
clarified this statement in two ways (of the many possible interpretations Richard often has in mind). One, Meta-Programs
don't change simply because we wish it were so. Meta-Programs, with their subtle and pervasive nature, are often not time
nor context specific, in contrast to phobias for example, and for this reason much less amiable to change and requiring greater
skills than NLP Practitioner or even most NLP Master Practitioner's possess. Two, because Meta-Programs are at the basis
of how we make distinctions in the world, radically changing such a pattern without ecological considerations could easily
create more difficulties than it would resolve. An inexperienced NLP Practitioner (and Master) is advised to first learn more
about the systemic nature of experience. For example, if someone has had a life long phobia of heights, the sudden and
complete elimination of this would seem a great gift. Now consider that this person has no reference experiences for dealing
with being on high and/or unstable objects: ladders, cliff edges, balconies, tables, etc. No beliefs have been created or refined
over time and experience about acceptable risk and cautious behavior. This person's fearlessness is not based on mastery of the
situation, but naivete. A radical Meta-Program distinction shift would magnify this many times further. Rather than this being
an excuse not to pursue Meta-Program shifts, it counsels an approach of increasing awareness and flexibility. That is to say;
more choices as a path to increasing change.

Shifting Meta-Programs with Submodalities

Every distinction in our experience has Submodalities codings. For example, many of us have the importance of
something coded as larger images and louder sounds, and Authority coded as higher up [above eye level] and more distinct.
Shifting these Submodality neuro-codes will shift the degree to which we relate to these distinctions of a particular Meta-
Program for that context and possibly across contexts.

Shifting Meta-Programs with Reference Experiences

In our lives we have had a wide range of experiences, whether we acknowledge them or even identify with them or
not. A Meta-Program leaning or bias indicates an habituated response. For example, on the Away From - Towards dimension
of the Direction Meta-Program, we may, after years of conditioning find ourselves more responsive to the Away From side of
that distinction. We easily notice what we don't want. What we want comes to mind less easily. Even so, we still want.
Whether we act on these desires is a different Meta-Program. (The Level or Proactive/Reactive distinction, to be specific).
We can increase the less referenced side(s) of a Meta-Program by finding simple everyday experiences and increasing their
frequency and intensity. We could go "in search of pleasure." To encourage an unfamiliar Meta-Program distinction, find a
pleasurable place to start, seeking everyday experiences we enjoy that will create reference experiences for the less used
Meta-Programs. Further, we can examine these experiences for their Submodalities coding for a Mapping Across interven-
tion, and simply as anchored states to combine with experiences where we desire a certain Meta-Program leaning or bias.

Shifting Meta-Programs by Shifting Their Thresholds

The "activation" of certain Meta-Programs takes place when a Threshold is reached. For example, when a job
becomes uncomfortable enough to demand you take action and move Away From it, or an idea becomes attractive enough to
draw you nearer Toward it. You may "spring" into action easily [Proactive] or you may need to consider it [Reactive]. These
and other thresholds can be adjusted in either direction (by Re-anchoring, New Behavior Generator, Reframing & Metaphor).

Shifting Meta-Programs by Increasing the Number and Importance/Intensity of Criteria

Meta-Programs are distinctions in experience. A distinction may be fuzzy or clear, it may be sketchy or richly
developed. Obviously, the more richly detailed a distinction is, the more distinct it will be in a person's experience. To
increase the distinctiveness of a Meta-Program distinction, add, though the experience feels more like discover, more
Criteria. These additional Criteria, as well as the previously existing ones, can then be increased in intensity and importance
by Submodalities shifts: making them larger, closer, brighter, more colorful, more saturated, and more dimensional.

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 12

 Content Meta-Program
Write down any changes you are seeking in the following areas of your life. Look over the catego-
ries below and select the one(s) you can most easily answer and/or are most important to you
first. Write down what comes into your mind, as much as you can in the words that come to you.

Your physical body and health

How you feel

People in your life and how you relate to them

What you do

What you know

Who you are

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 13

 The Metaphors of Content
The Metaphoric Structure of the Content Meta-Program
Research by Charles Faulkner

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 14

 Identifying & Changing Object Relationships
Exercise
1. Identify the object relationship pattern you wish to add or change.
Find a problematic object relationship situation. You can use the Metaphors & Content Meta-Programs
page to facilitate this. Select a particular time of difficulty or lack of skill. Notice the natural language metaphors
used in that situation. For example, maybe you have difficulty 'handling' money. You just can't seem to 'hang' on
to it. It 'slips through your fingers'. You 'lose it' or can't 'find it'. These are all examples of MONEY IS AN OB-
JECT with an emphasis on the aspect of keeping. Notice that this a different category from someone who knows
how to 'handle' money, but doesn't know how (or where) to 'Get it'. See the chart for the Primary Categories of
Object Relationships. You may want to explore several situations in order to establish possible Object Relation-
ship themes in your life.

2. Identify a 'source context' for your difficulty or lack of skill.

Your difficulty or lack of skill could stem from identification with a parent figure who didn't handle
money well, or not identifying with an authority figure who did, or a simple lack of experience, that is, no one you
knew at that time had any money (or did anything with it public enough to serve as a model).
Beginning in the present moment, allow yourself to go back in time and find an early and representative
example of your current object relationship pattern. We'll call this a 'source context'. Notice which perceptual
position you take in that moment of identification. You will use this later. Step out of this experience to an
observing position in which you can see what you have done.

3. Identify a person in your life with the requisite skills you desire.
The skills you desire may have been in a person you simply didn't identify with; a neighbor, a teacher,
shopkeeper, etc., may not have appeared until later in your life. For instance, after you left your small town. Find
a specific and real person in a specific situation that exemplifies the skills you desire. Make sure the situation is
one you personally witnessed. Determine the ecology of gaining these skills. How would they affect your life,
your family, your future? If you have concerns, pick another, more appropriate model. Test this model by step-
ping into this person's experience and trying it on. When you have selected a model and tested it to your satisfac-
tion, step out to an observing position in which you can see what you have done.

4. Transfer your identification from your source context to your skilled model and bring these learnings up
through your past to your present.
Associate back into your original 'source context' just the way you did it. If you are in your role model,
first go into your younger self and begin from there. As you are your younger self in this situation, re-experience
the thoughts, feelings, and actions you learned from your role model in that situation. Experience them, memorize
them, and exhale, physically stepping out of your younger you and taking them completely back to your role
model. Experience them one last time in your role model and exhale, physically stepping out of them and leaving
them there. You are now in a neutral space.
Walk over to where you experienced your skilled role model and step in, inhaling it into you.
Experience your skilled role model's thoughts, feelings and actions fully. Memorize them and bring them with
you into your younger you in the source context. Take the time to let that younger you drink in deeply these
important ways of moving through the world. Then take these experience through your past moments right up to
your present moment, and then project them on into your future.

5. Now and notice how you think and feel about your new skill.
For many people the process is complete. Others may want simply to repeat the pattern in order to deep-
ening the learnings, while other sometimes want to add additions skills that have come to their attention.

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner - additional Meta-Program distinctions & re-organization 15

Section 4 - Beliefs

Beliefs 1
What Is A Belief? 1
Forms of Belief 2
Defining Beliefs 5
Robert Dilts' description of Beliefs: 6
The NLP Submodality Belief Change Process 8
Conversational Belief Change 9
The Walking Belief Change Process 10
The Walking Belief Change Pattern 11
Reimprinting 12
 Beliefs
What Is A Belief?

The dictionary defines a belief as "an idea or judgment held as true or

valid." Beliefs are derived from experience, assessments or interpretations
which we apply to other experiences. Like other parts of our maps of the
world, beliefs are made with the mapmaker's tools - generalizations,
deletions, distortions. A map of Colorado generalizes in representing all
paved roads with one type of symbol, no matter the differences in road
surface, grade or other features. It deletes many details - wildlife crossing
signs, waterfalls and other landmarks along the way, the great pie shop on
the side of the road, the notorious speed trap. It distorts the landscape,
representing the state two-dimensionally, for example.

Nevertheless, a map and its representation can be an invaluable tool in

finding ones way around unfamiliar territory. Successful navigation is a
process of comparing the territory with the map, using the symbolic
representation as a guide. Good navigators are aware that a map is only as
useful as its representation is accurate. Maps can be outdated or simply
wrong. A navigator who insists upon following the map despite evidence
that it doesn't match the territory will surely be lost. Beliefs must also be
continually updated compared to the experiences they describe in order to
function in a useful manner.

Beliefs enable us to operate in the world in many useful ways. Most of our
beliefs are helpful. Upon spying a doorknob, most of us will operate on a
generalization based on years of similar experiences: we guess that turning
the thing will open the door, unless it's locked. If so, we resort to a series
of generalizations about how to open a locked door, or perhaps how to
interpret the fact that the door is locked. In the case of the Men's Room
door, we might assume it was occupied. We wait. Arriving at an office
building to find it locked, we might make the opposite assumption - that
it's unoccupied. Growing up is in part a process of learning to generalize in
this way.

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 Beliefs are built like other learnings, from our experiences. We learn
through

• Direct experience
• Modelling others' experiences
• Indirect experience.

Some people build a belief based on one compelling experience - Steve Andreas
talks about "the guy who knew that all Indians walk single file, because he saw
one once." Others have much more rigorous requirements for building a belief,
needing multiple examples or repeated experiences over time in order to believe.
It is common for children to build beliefs based on what they are told by parents,
siblings, or teachers. Beliefs can also be formed by reading about something.
Most people also have beliefs which conflict with one another.

Beliefs are perceptual filters - they are the lenses through which we view the
environment. A person's beliefs and values determine much of their personality
structure. Beliefs are expressed in every choice you make - from your career to
your clothes, from your lunch to your lover.

Forms of Belief

There are different kinds of beliefs, each of which influences us differently.

Hearing the language pattern in which a belief is expressed is often a clue
to help us detect beliefs. The categories below are not mutually exclusive.

A "presupposition" is something that must be assumed for the statement to

make sense. Presuppositions are often contained within assumptions.
This is probably the most common form of belief. We presuppose
hundreds of times a day. Some presuppositions are expectations derived
from experience. Other presuppositions are interpretations far removed
from sensory data.

How soon will the sun rise? (The sun will rise)
We must leave earlier than usual if we are to make it on time.
{Traffic will slow down at rush hour)
You will look great in that outfit. (The clothes will fit)
How often do you get your hair cut? (Hair grows)
Will you carry the baby? (Babies can't walk)
You can't think of anything else. (Men want only one thing)
My feelings come second don't they? {Business people care more
about money than relationships)
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 Without presuppositions, we would be unable to function.
All beliefs are presupposed to some extent. The more deeply presupposed,
the more unconscious they are.

Cause-effects describe relationships between actions and responses or

reactions.
Relationships should be easy or they are not worth it.
I'm not smart enough to learn this material.
No matter what I do it won't make a difference.
If I do as I am told I will receive love.
Giving of myself to others will surely create reciprocation.

Complex equivalences ascribe meaning to our experience. Among them

are values and criteria.
"All heiresses are beautiful. " John Dryden, King Arthur.
"A great fortune is a great slavery. " Seneca.
"Love means freedom from all conflict. " Krishnamurti.
"All men are liars. " TV commercial.

Values and Criteria: All Values are Criteria, but not all Criteria are
Values. A Value is a criterion that is applied across contexts or, if you
wish, to "life," or " myself," or some such over-arching context. Values
are desirable principles and qualities. What we value will determine what
kinds of experiences we seek and repeat in our lives, and what we avoid.
Criteria are the standards of evaluation being applied within a particular
context. Criteria are used to gauge the extent to which our values are met
in a particular experience.
In the end, the only thing that really counts is shareholder value.
"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind. "
Emerson.
You can't be too rich or too thin.
"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great
things." Diderot.
He who dies with the most toys wins.
"Hold a true friend with both your hands." Nigerian proverb.
"Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take, but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death. " Patrick Henry

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 Content
We all have beliefs that serve as resources as well as beliefs that limit us.
Some beliefs could be more useful than others in particular situations. The
following examples could be empowering beliefs depending on the context
in which they operate.
"The more I give, the more I prosper. "
"I am lovable."
"There's always a way. "
"'Take what you want,' said God, 'and pay for it.'" Spanish
proverb
"If one person can do it, anyone can learn it. " NLP presupposition
"Old men are always young enough to learn, with profit. "
AEschylus

Some beliefs may be limiting to us in particular situations or contexts:

"Everyone has his price."
"I am unworthy. "
"Children should be seen and not heard. "
"I can't do my best because management doesn't walk their talk. "
"It doesn't matter that you 're not pretty - you 're smart. "
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks. "

Limiting beliefs can be changed. This section of the training presents many
ways to detect and change limiting beliefs into empowering convictions.
In what areas of your life could you expand the choices in terms of what's
possible and worthwhile?

Consider the following content areas when examining your beliefs for
limitations:
Health Work Change: pain vs. gain
Prosperity Fun Spiritual life
Relationships Creativity Aging

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 Defining Beliefs
1. What is a belief? A generalization which impacts behavior.
a. How do they limit and/or help each of us?
b. The map is not the territory. Beliefs are maps or models we have constructed which
represent the world, which we then act on and live by. Some beliefs, however, may
feel true, though you know intellectually they are not. Beliefs are felt in the body.
c. They are constructed in forms of Cause/Effect and Complex Equivalences
(Comparisons)
Cause/Effect: "If I stop worrying, my wife will die."
"If I'm honest, I'll be abandoned."
Complex Equivalences (comparisons): "I am bad." "I am a failure."

2. Surface beliefs vs. core beliefs:

a. Surface beliefs are about doing and performance: "I can't learn math."
b. Core beliefs are about states of being and life and death.
They are extreme. Above beingness/nothingness; foundational: "I am stupid."

3. Ecological Concerns: Do more than usual to secure ecological soundness. Beliefs are
very powerful and have widespread impact. Be very careful.
Demonstration of eliciting a surface belief and a core belief:
a. How to uncover a Surface Belief:
• "What do you believe about yourself that limits you in some way?"

b. How to uncover a Core Belief:

• "What do you want?"
• What stops you from getting it?
• If you got it, what would scare you about having it?

c. How to construct a New Belief:

• Use Parallel Format
• What would you rather believe? Well-formed Outcome
— Stated in the positive
— Initiated and maintained by the self
— In process form, not static. "I am learning to..."
• Define the context
— When do you want to believe it?
— Where do you want to believe it?

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 Robert Dilts' description of Beliefs:

There is an old story about a patient who was being treated by a psychiatrist. The patient wouldn't
eat or take care of himself, claiming that he was a corpse. The psychiatrist spent many hours
arguing with the patient trying to convince him he wasn't a corpse. Finally, the psychiatrist asked
the patient if corpses bleed.

The patient replied, "Of course corpses don't bleed, all of their body functions have stopped."
The psychiatrist then convinced the patient to try an experience. The psychiatrist would carefully
prick the patient with a pin, and they would see if he started to bleed. The patient agreed. After
all, he was a corpse.

The psychiatrist gently pricked the patient's skin with a needle, and sure enough, he started to
bleed. With a look of shock and amazement, the patient gasped, "I'll be darned ... corpses DO
bleed!"

Our beliefs are a very powerful force in our behavior. It is common wisdom that if someone
really believes he can do something he will do it, and if he believes something is impossible, no
amount of effort will convince him that it can be accomplished. What is unfortunate is that many
sick people, such as those with cancer or heart disease, will often present their doctors and friends
with the same belief mentioned in the story above.

Beliefs like "It's too late now," "There's nothing I can do anyway," "I'm a victim.. .my number
came up." Can often limit the full resources of the patient. Our beliefs about ourselves and what
is possible in the world around us greatly impact our day-to-day effectiveness.

All of us have beliefs that serve as resources as well as beliefs that limit us. The power of beliefs
was demonstrated in an enlightening study in which a group of children were tested to have
average intelligence was divided at random into two equal groups. One of the groups was
assigned to a teacher who was told that the children were "gifted." The other group was given to a
teacher who was told that the children were "slow learners." A year later, the two groups were re-
tested for intelligence. Not surprisingly, the majority of the group that was arbitrarily identified as
"gifted" scored higher than they had previously, while the majority of the group that was labeled
"slow" scored lower! The teacher's beliefs about the students affected their ability to learn.

In another study, 100 cancer "survivors" (patients who had reversed their symptoms for over 10
years) were interviewed about what they had done to achieve success. The interviews showed that
not one treatment method stood out as being more effective than any other. Some had taken the
standard medical treatment of chemotherapy and/or radiation, some had used a nutritional
approach, others had followed a spiritual path, while others concentrated on a psychological
approach, and some did nothing at all. The only thing that was characteristic of the entire group
was that they all believed that the approach they took would work.

Certainly, these examples seem to demonstrate that our beliefs can shape, affect, or even
determine our degree of intelligence, health, relationships, creativity, even our degree of
happiness and personal success. Yet, if indeed our beliefs are such a powerful force in our lives,
how do we get control of them so they don't control us?

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 Many of our beliefs were installed in us as children by parents, teachers, social upbringing and
the media before we were aware of their impact or able to have a choice about them. Is it possible
to restructure, unlearn or change old beliefs that may be limiting us and imprint new ones that can
expand our potential beyond what we currently imagine? If so, how do we do it?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) provides perhaps the most powerful and exciting model of
the mind and set of behavioral tools in existence. Through the processes of NLP, beliefs and
belief strategies may be explicitly mapped and directed.

The three most common areas of limiting beliefs center around issues of hopelessness,
helplessness and worthlessness. These three areas of belief can exert a great deal of influence
with respect to a person's mental and physical health. Hopelessness occurs when someone does
not believe a particular desired goal is even possible. It is characterized by a sense that, "No
matter what I do it won't make a difference." What I want is not possible to get. It's out of my
control. I'm a victim."

Helplessness occurs when, even though he or she believes that the outcome exists and is possible
to achieve, a person does not believe that he or she is capable of attaining it. It produces a sense
that, "It's possible for others to achieve this goal but not for me. I'm not good enough or capable
enough to accomplish it."

Worthlessness occurs when, even though a person may believe that the desired goal is possible
and that he or she even has the capability to accomplish it, that individual believes that he or she
doesn't deserve to get what he/she wants. It is often characterized by a sense that, "I am a fake. I
don't belong. I don't deserve to be happy or healthy. There is something basically and
fundamentally wrong with me as a person, and I deserve the pain and suffering that I am
experiencing."

NLP offers specific techniques to elegantly and effectively help people to shift these types of
limiting beliefs to beliefs involving hope for the future, a sense of capability and responsibility,
and a sense of self-worth and belonging.

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 The NLP Submodality Belief Change Process
1. Belief: Think of a belief that you value and is a resource to you. List the
submodalities of this belief.

Break state.

2. Doubt or uncertainty: Now think of something that you doubt. It might be true or it
might not be true; you are not sure. List the submodalities of the experience of doubt.

Break state.

3. Differences: Do a contrastive analysis to find and list the submodality differences

between Belief and Doubt.

Break state.

4. Unwanted Belief: Think of a belief you have about yourself that you wish you didn't
have, because it limits you in some way or it has undesirable consequences. List the
submodalities of this belief.

5. New belief: What new belief would you like to have in place of the unwanted belief?
Notice the content of this preferred belief.

Break state.

6. Unwanted Belief into Doubt: Keeping the content constant, change the
submodalities of the unwanted belief into the submodalities of doubt by first using the
most powerful submodality differences: association/dissociation and location. Then
change the rest of the submodalities of belief into the submodalities of doubt.

7. Change Content of Old Belief into Content of New Belief: Send the old belief
picture (which is now doubted) into the distance until it is out of sight. Then see a picture
coming back from the distance and containing the content of the new belief (in Doubt
submodalities).

8. Doubt into Belief: Keeping the new belief content, change the submodalities of
doubt into the submodalities of belief (that is, the same submodalities as #1 above).

Break State.

9. Test: How do you think about this new belief?

10. Future pace: Think of a time in the future when having this new belief will make a
difference. What is it like?

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 Conversational Belief Change
Information Gathering and Preparation
1. Identify the limiting belief and a doubt, an uncertainty.

2. Contrast the belief and the doubt to discover differences in how they are represented.

3. Test each of these differences to determine which are the most powerful in changing
belief into doubt. (Be sure to test for this difference, since some of the differences
may be coded to other things, for example, whether the person likes this belief.)

4. Design a new belief with which to replace the limiting belief.

Use these guidelines:
• State the new belief in the positive.
• Make it describe a process, not a state of being.
• Include methods for adjusting according to feedback.
• Give it enough flexibility to deal with counterexamples.
• Make it ecological for the person.

5. Anchor the belief spatially (location) and tonally (with certainty).

6. Elicit Doubt: As you do, use spatial anchor and tonality to shift location.

7. "What will be most useful to believe?" Design new belief.

8. "As you let go of old certainties, making room for new learning, notice....
(advantages, etc.)" Introduce new belief using hypnotic language.

9. Test.

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 The Walking Belief Change Process
Part I
1. Create a label for six locations of change: Current Belief — Open to Doubt — Museum of
Old Beliefs — Preferred Belief— Open to Belief— and The Sacred Place.

2. Place the labels on the floor in a clockwise direction around an imaginary dinner table, as
though they were place settings.

3. Identify a Current Belief about yourself that limits you in some way.

4. Identify what you would rather believe, your Preferred Belief.

5. Now establish a "location anchor" for each of the six labels. That is, physically step into each
location of change and think of an experience which fits its description. It's often most
effective to use personal experiences and beliefs rather than philosophy. Notice where in your
body each experience resides, and notice what movement your body makes in each location
of change. Break state between each location of change. (It's also interesting to notice the
visual, auditory and kinesthetic submodalities of each experience.)

Examples:
a. Current Belief: The belief that limits you in some way.
b. Open to Doubt: "Maybe I'm not repulsive." "Maybe the moon doesn't follow our car."
c. Museum of Old Beliefs: "I'm stupid." "Money grows on trees." The Tooth Fairy.
d. Preferred Belief: the belief you'd rather have.
e. Open to Belief: "Maybe I am attractive." "Maybe the Cold War is really over."
f. The Sacred Place: "Children must be protected from brutalization."
Part II
6. Now start at the beginning again. Step into the Current Belief location and access your
limiting belief. This time, slowly and gently walk the limiting belief directly into the Open to
Doubt location (allowing the limiting belief to be transformed into doubt.) Then walk the now
doubted belief into the Museum of Old Beliefs, and physically place that former limiting
belief near the other former beliefs in the Museum of Old Beliefs.

7. Now step into the Preferred Belief location and access what you want to believe. Slowly and
gently walk your preferred belief directly into the Open to Belief location (allowing it to be
strengthened) and then walk your preferred belief into the Sacred Place (allowing it to
become very strong).

8. Finish by feeling the now sacred preferred belief in your body and stepping directly into the
Current Belief location (allowing it to be transformed). Feel your preferred belief as
something you currently believe. Repeatedly step between the Sacred Place and Current
Belief locations several times.

9. Now, think of what you currently believe. How is it different than it was?

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 The Walking Belief Change Pattern

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 Reimprinting
Originated by Robert Dilts

1. Identify the specific images, sounds and/or feelings associated with the impasse.
Anchor them and use them to remember the earliest experience of the feeling
associated with the impasse.
While still in the feeling, identify the generalizations or beliefs formed from that
experience.

2. Step out of the experience and watch it as if it were a film. Identify any other
generalizations or beliefs formed as a result of the imprint experience, particularly
those that might have formed after the fact.

3. Determine the positive intent or secondary gain of the feeling of impasse. What
did/does this feeling accomplish for you? Determine the positive intent of the
significant others involved in the memory.

4. Identify and anchor the resources needed by all significant parties in the event
individually.

5. For each significant person in the imprint experience, replay the film seeing how the
experience would have changed if the necessary resources had been available to that
person. Repeat for each person making sure that the added resources are sufficient to
change the experience.

What new beliefs/generalizations/conclusions would the person choose to create out

of this experience?

6. Associate with each significant person in the event and relive the imprint experience
from their point of view (one at a time). End by stepping into the younger self and
experiencing it from that point of view. Repeat until this new experience is as strong
as the original imprint.

Revise beliefs/generalizations/conclusions from this experience.

7. Maintaining the resources used throughout this process, move through time forward
to the present, changing other experiences in light of this new experience. Look into
the future noticing how these new resources will impact future situations, decisions,
and patterns.

8. Now go back and remember the impasse as you had previously. What is different
now?

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Section 5 - Advanced Language Patterns

SLEIGHT OF MOUTH 1
A. SOM: Model of the World 1
B. SOM: Prior Cause, Consequences, Intent 2
Prior Cause 2
Consequences 2
Intent 2
Standard SOM Exercise Format 2
C. SOM: Counter-example, Switch Referential Index 3
Counter-Example 3
Switch Referential Index 3
D. SOM: Redefine, Change Frame 3
E. SOM: Criteria Utilization 4
F. SOM: Meta & Apply to Self 5
Meta 5
Apply to Self 5
Apply to Self Worksheet 6
G. SOM: Reversing Presuppositions 6
General Formula for Reversing the Presupposition: 7
H. SOM: Integration Exercise 8
SLEIGHT O F M O U T H P A T T E R N S - E X A M P L E S 9
First example: "Your being late shows me that you don't care about me." 9
Second Example: "Not knowing makes me feel foolish." 14
SOM Worksheet 18
META MODEL III 20
Meta Model III Exercise 20
Verb relaxes 21
Exercise 1: Backtracking 21
Exercise 2: Changing Time Frame 22
APPLYING PRESUPPOSITIONAL FORMS TO AN OUTCOME 23
Applying Presuppositional Forms Exercise 27
Comparisons Exercise 27
Possible components to change in a comparison: 28
Language Pattern Flow Chart 29
 Sleight of Mouth

A. SOM: Model of the World

Purpose: to "loosen" beliefs. This pattern "drives a wedge" between what's real and our
experience.
When to Use: Whenever someone states an un-useful belief or opinion.
There are several specific categories or ways of using "Model of the World."
1. Unreality Predicates: (seems, appears, looks like, etc.) "So it seems to you that..."
2. Self/Other: "So for you..." The implication is that it may be different for others.
3. Tonal Emphasis: Tends to elicit alternative representations for whatever is emphasized. "So you
think that..." "So you think that...."
4 Time: Create a distinction between the situation now and some other time. "So now you know
that..." "How long have you thought of this in this way?" "At this point in time you...."
5. Awareness or Description predicates: "So the way you picture (describe, view, see, suppose, etc.)
the situation..."
6. Questioning tonal shift: Make a pacing statement, but with the rising tonal inflection at the end of
the sentence typical of questions.

Exercise
1. A states a limiting belief. (Use your own or someone else's.) A notices how he represents this
belief internally.
2. B makes a simple "backtrack" pacing statement.
3. C makes a model-of-the-world statement (a pace and a lead). Both B and C notice A's external
response(s).
4. A notices any internal experiential shifts when he hears C's statement. A briefly reports these to
B and C.
5. Rotate positions.

Note: Are you (B&C) maintaining rapport with A? If not, get feedback from A about how you can change
your delivery to maintain rapport.

Stretches
1. When you are C, change which model of the world categories you use to be sure you use
each at least once.
2. C uses two (or more) categories of "model of the world" in the same sentence.
3. A gets more bizarre or "psychotic" with his original problem statement.

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 Try using three or more different patterns on the same statement, to see which is more
effective. Is there an increasing effect due to repetition over time?

B. SOM: Prior Cause, Consequences, Intent

Prior Cause

Key Question: "What happened earlier that caused this?"

Purpose: Bringing an earlier cause into the picture can broaden understanding and shift
away from blame. It expands the frame.

Consequences
Key Question: "What happens afterward, as a result?"
Purpose: This expands the frame in the other direction. Adding in future consequences can
make something perceived as positive become negative, or vice versa. (Remember the story of
the old farmer and his horse.) It can also add intensity to an already-perceived positive or
negative perception.

Intent
Key Question: "What was intended?"
Purpose: (usually positive intent) Shifting from negative behaviors to a positive intent
creates agreement and appreciation—the basis for new, more positive behavior.

Standard SOM Exercise Format

(Trios.)

1. A states a limiting belief. B and C use the Meta-Model if necessary to get this into the
form of a cause-effect or a complex equivalence.

2. B points to one of the SOM categories you are exploring. C makes a SOM reply using
that category. B confirms that C's reply is an example of that category.
A notices what shifts in his experience.

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 3. C points to one of the SOM categories for B to use in making a reply. C confirms that
B's reply is an example of that category.
A notices what shifts in his experience.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 as long as it's useful. Then rotate positions and begin with a new
limiting belief. Write down the belief statements and replies that are particularly
useful.

Stretch:
You can make replies to just the A side of the equation, just the B side of the
equation, and both A and B, for each SOM category.

C, SOM: Counter-example, Switch Referential Index

Counter-Example
Key Question: "When is this not true?"
Purpose: Finding exceptions to limiting beliefs creates a doorway to a new more-useful belief.
Be sure you gain use of all four kinds of counter-example.
The four kinds of counter-example:
Not A.
Not B.
A, but not B.
Not A, yet B.

Switch Referential Index

Key Question: "For whom is this not true?"
Purpose: Another person is often a useful source of excellent counter-examples. Use
also when you want to be more indirect (metaphorical), or when you want to invite a
possibility but don't know if it fits your listener's set of experiences.

Exercise: Use Standard SOM Exercise Format Given Under "B" Above.

D. SOM: Redefine, Change Frame

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 Redefine
Key Question: "What / What else can this mean?"
Purpose: Changing the meaning of an event or behavior changes our response to it.

Change Frame
Key Question: "What do I want to pay attention to? What do I want to include / exclude?"
Purpose: The scope of what we experience impacts our response. Making it larger or
smaller or moving it somewhere else creates a different experience.

The frame can be changed to include / exclude different contexts, time, resources,
numbers of people, or criteria.

Exercise: Use Standard SOM Exercise Format Given Under "B" Above.

E. SOM: Criteria Utilization

This integrates several SOM patterns.

1. A states: "I want to do x, but something stops me."
2. B elicits the relevant criteria for both doing and not doing, and makes two lists.
a. "What's important or valuable about doing X?"
"What makes you want to do X?"
Listen for criteria. (Analog marking will help you identify them.)
b. Put the person in the context(s) where he could do X but doesn't, and listen for
criteria.
"What's important or valuable about not doing X?"
"What stops you from doing X?"
3. B elicits a higher criterion that supersedes all the major criteria elicited thus far,
particularly one that is more important than 2b. above.
"What is more important to you than ( safety, etc.)?"
"What will get you to give up (safety, etc.)?"
4. B utilizes criteria to assist A in congruently doing what he wants to do, by doing one or
more of the following:
a. Redefine what he wants to do, so that it fits within the criteria that currently stop him
(from step 2b), or

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 b. Make what he now does instead into counter-examples of his valued criteria (from
steps 2b and 3) (use redefining and apply to self), or
c. Make what he wants to do an example of the higher-valued criterion (from step 3)
even if it still violates lower-valued criteria (from step 2b). (Use redefining and
hierarchy of criteria.)
5. B uses verb forms to install new belief and behavior on timeline.
Example: So you want to be firm with your child, but you are stopped by wanting to be a
nice person. More important than being a nice person is learning.
a "Can you see how in the long run you will be a much nicer person, and more
thoughtful of your child, by being firm?"
b. "It's really rather mean—not nice at all—to let your child get by with anything,
because you're not preparing him to be able to get along with attractive and
resourceful people later in life."
c. "So which is more important, being a nice person in a limited sort of way, or laying
the foundation for your son to learn how to get along in life?"

F. SOM: Meta & Apply to Self

Meta
Talk about the belief as a thing. Step outside the belief & talk about it.
Purpose: Help the person dissociate from their belief. Also, this is an important
component of the following pattern, Apply to Self.

Apply to Self
Key Question: How can the criteria in the belief be used against the belief?
Purpose: Utilize criteria within belief to blow it out.
Three Components Generally Required:
1. Go Meta
2. Utilize Criterion
3. Blow Out Belief

To utilize"away-from" criteria:
1. Restate belief as "I don't like x."
2. Say, "This belief is x."
Example: "I don't like absolutes." Response: "Is that an absolute?"

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 To utilize "toward" criteria:
1. Restate belief as "I want x."
2. Say, "This belief stops you from having x."
Example: "I always have to please people." Response: "That doesn't please me."

To utilize situations in which their having the belief contradicts the belief.
1. Say, "The fact that you have this belief proves it's not true."
Example: "I can't learn." Response: "You learned that really well, didn't you?"

Explore alternate deliveries.

Apply to Self Worksheet

1. When I have the flu, I can't think.

2. You have to be careful what you learn, or you'll learn something that you shouldn't know
and will damn you to hell.
3. If I feel good, then bad things will happen (so I may as well go ahead and get depressed
now.)
4. Quality time is more important than quantity time (taken to the extreme, 10 minutes / week)
5. Life's a bitch and then you die.
6. No matter how many nice experiences I have, I'm never satisfied.
7. The world is not a safe place.
8. No pain, no gain.
9. When I go into a social situation, I have to be the best at something. So before I can walk into
a room, I have to decide what I'm the best at there.
10. I'm not as good as I should be.
11. He makes too big of generalizations.

G. SOM: Reversing Presuppositions

Purpose: This category was modeled from Connirae's language patterns. It is a

particularly useful SOM category since you can utilize it with most beliefs. The General
Formula below gives you an "all-purpose" way to apply this method—even when you
don't know the answer yourself.

Example 1: A woman complained that she couldn't have a relationship with a man,
because she had personal flaws, and these flaws would always cause her relationship to
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 fall apart anyway, so there was no hope. Her Belief was "The fact that I have personal
flaws will always cause any relationship with a man to fail."

Reverse Presupposition: "In what way, now that you think about it, will the fact that
you have personal flaws and you know it, actually support your developing a better
relationship (than if you had no personal flaws at all)?"

Example 2: Another client wasn't getting what she wanted sexually. She didn't tell her
boyfriend what she wanted, because that would be limiting him, and taking away his
choice. Connirae said, "Have you ever had the pleasure of giving someone a gift that you
know they wanted to receive?" Client (Yes). "Did you realize that you've been taking
that choice away from your boyfriend? You haven't told him clearly what you want, so
you're limiting him from giving it to you, even if he wants to.... If you tell him what you
want, then at least he has the choice of giving it to you if he wants to."

Sequence in this example:

a. Client's original belief: "Telling equals forcing or limiting."
12. Reversing Presupposition: "Not telling equals limiting." "Telling equals choice."

General Formula for Reversing the Presupposition:

"How [does/will/can/might/could/would] A actually [cause/equal/mean] more [opposite

of 'B']?"
or
"How [does/will/can/might/could/would] [opposite of 'A'] actually [cause/equal/mean]
more 'B'?"

Notes:
1. Reversing the Presupposition differs from Redefining in that it results in a new belief
that is opposite to the old one. Essentially you are asking, "How is your belief the
opposite of what's true?" "How is the opposite of what you thought, really true?" It
differs from counter-example in that we're going for how the belief is untrue across
the board, rather than just in certain contexts.

2. The question form in the General Formula above enables the client to generate the
evidence for the new belief.

2. Sometimes it is useful to ask "What is the opposite of B for you?"

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 H. SOM: Integration Exercise

Purpose: Increase your facility with SOM patterns. Learn more about how different
SOM patterns shift beliefs.

Note: We do not intend to do this exercise in class, but include it for your use afterward
as you continue to study on your own.

Round 1:
1. A thinks of a limiting belief and states it in the form of a complex equivalence or a cause-
effect statement. A notices how he/she represents this belief (in submodalities and
content), and notes this on a slip of paper, while B and C go on to step 2.
2. C is meta-person. C specifies a pattern for B to use (and makes sure B uses it). C also
acts as secretary, briefly writing down each statement, pattern, and response.
3. B uses the pattern to make an intervention. Notice if (and how) this response changes
A's state (non-verbal shifts, etc.).
Before responding verbally, A notices any changes in his/her experience of the belief
(submodalities or content), and writes them down.
Round 2:
1. A replies to B's intervention. (C writes this down.) This reply may only be a
restatement of the original belief, but more likely it will include other information
(often in the form of presuppositions) about criteria, distinctions, comparisons, etc.,
that were not obvious in the original belief statement, and can be utilized in the next
intervention. It may reveal a new, more important C—>E or CEq to utilize for this
round. Whether A accepts or rejects the intervention (it does or doesn't permanently
change A's experience), A's reply will contain useful information.

2. B specifies a different pattern for C to use.

3. C composes an intervention responding to A's reply. (Although A's reply may only
relate to one half of the CEq or CE, the other half is still there connected to it; C
always has the option of responding to the entire belief.) C delivers the intervention
and notices if (and how) it has an impact on A.

4. Before responding verbally, A again notices any change in the belief and writes them
down.

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 Continue this process for five rounds. Then review the sequence of Belief statements and
interventions, adding in any changes A noticed in the belief. The goal is to determine
what happens when a SOM intervention works, both in terms of external nonverbal shifts
and internal (submodality and content) shifts.

When a belief shifts, how is that shift related to the kind of intervention? If you know
what the different kinds of intervention do, you can be precise about choosing what kind
of intervention will be most useful in getting the change you want to accomplish.

Sleight of Mouth Patterns-Examples

First example: "Your being late shows me that you don't care
about me."
This chart and list is our reorganization and examples of the Slight-of-Mouth patterns.
These patterns were first devised by Robert Dilts and are based on Richard Bandler's
language patterns.
These patterns are to be used on any complex equivalence or cause-effect statement.
Below is a list of patterns, with examples, responding to the following sentence: •
A B
Not Caring Not Caring
External Behavior = Internal State
In the examples below, A, B, or A/B indicates that the intervention is directed at only the
first half (A), only the second half (N), or the entire statement (A/B). For the purpose of
learning each pattern, we have tried to use examples that only use the listed pattern. Note,
however, that some patterns always include other patterns. For example, "Hierarchy of
criteria" always enlarges the frame, and "apply to self is always a meta-frame. Of course
these patterns can be combined in a single response. Like the hypnotic language patterns,
the more you can pack into one sentence, the harder it will be to "unpack" and the more
impactful it will be.

1. Prior Cause. Cause of the statement: X —> ( A = B ) —>

A. "I'm late because all the lights were red."
B. "I don't care because you've been mean to me lately."
A/B. "You believe that because your mother was always late, and she didn't care about
you."
2. Chunk Size (Up-down-Lateral)
Up: A more general statement that includes the sentence content and also many others.

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 A. "How I behave toward you is certainly important."
B, "I agree that my feelings for you are important."
A/B. "My behavior toward you certainly indicates how I feel toward you."
Down: A more specific statement that implicitly is included in the original statement.
A. "How many minutes late am I?"
B, "In what way do I not care?"
A/B. "How late do I have to be to show you that I don't care at all?"
Lateral: Shifting context to other examples; context reframes, shift referential index, and
counter-examples are also forms of lateral chunking. (Lateral chunking usually serves to
enlarge the frame.)
A. "I'll be prompt in responding to your concern now."
B, "My listening to you attentively now is evidence that I do care about you."
A/B. "I showed you I cared for you yesterday when I was on time."

3. Frame Size: A larger/smaller/different frame adds/deletes/changes information in the

same picture at the same logical level. (Whereas chunk size changes logical level—more
general or more specific.) Usually you will want to enlarge the frame or change frame to
increase options and flexibility.)

Larger:
A. "I know I'm often a little late, but I always come."
B. "I do care about you; I also care about keeping other commitments I've made."
A/B. "Promptness and caring are both important to me, too. You can't imagine how busy
I've been lately trying to keep all your bills paid on time."

Smaller:
A. "I guess I was exactly five minutes late today."
B. "On my way home I was thinking about two of the different ways I care about you."
A/B. "I didn't think my being five minutes late today would mean that I was uncaring."

Different: (keeping same criteria).

A. "When I came over the hill, I was just in time to see the gorgeous sunset."
B. "I love you so much I bought you something on the way home."
A/B. "I barely got to the store in time to get you something to show you how much I love
you."

Different: (totally — A, B, A/B irrelevant)

"On my way home I bought a winning lottery ticket."
"All the way home I've been thinking how to best celebrate our anniversary."

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 4. Consequences: the effect of the statement: (A=B) —> Y.
You will have to add in other events or data which the other person may not have been
aware of.

A. "Since I'm late, we'll avoid rush hour traffic."

B. "Since I don't care, you'll have an opportunity to become a more independent person."
A/B. "Will your thinking that prevent us from enjoying the evening together?"
A/B. "Your being upset about this is causing me not to care about our relationship."

5. Challenge: "That's not true."

A. "I'm not late."

B. "I do care."
A/B. "I do care; it's just that I'm late."

6. Redefine: Changing the meaning. (Since A is the definition of B, you can't redefine B without
dealing with A also.)

A. "It's not that I'm late, it's that I take my time."

A. "I'm not late now. When I don't show up for 24 hours, then you'll know I'm really
late." (also chunk down)
A. "Being late just means that I'm a busy person."
B. "Caring is not a matter of punctuality, it's a matter of making sure we get together
frequently."
B. "It's not my tardiness that can let you know I don't care, it's the shabby way I dress."
A/B. "Your bringing this up with me means we have the kind of relationship where we can
work things out."
7. Counter-example: An example "counter" to the belief.

A. "I wasn't late yesterday."

A. "Haven't there been lots of times when I wasn't late?"
B. "Can you think of any other ways I show you that I do care?"
A/B. "I was late last week, but you knew I cared."
A/B. "Have I ever been prompt, but you knew I didn't care?"
8. Reality Strategy: "How do you know that. . ."

A. " . . . I'm late?"

B. " . . . I don't care?"

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 A/B. ". . . my lateness means that I don't care."
9. Intent: outcome or meta-outcome. (self or other) Intent differs from Consequences
in that Intent is what you are trying to accomplish (and you may not get), whereas
consequences is what you get (and you may not have been trying to accomplish).

A. "My intent in being late was to try to get you to realize the value of our relationship."
A. "Do you want me to be prompt so that we can enjoy more time together?"
A. "I'm late because I always want to give my full attention to the person I'm with and
make sure I don't leave them hanging. That's what I'd like to do with you now."
B. "My intent in not caring was to try to protect myself from being hurt if you leave me."
B. "Are you concerned about whether I care because you want to be sure I really want to
marry you?"
B. "What would it do for you if you knew I cared about you?"
A/B. "Your intent in thinking that if I'm late I don't care is to have some way of knowing
my feelings for you."
A/B. "I wanted to demonstrate my lack of caring this way so that you'd be forced to stand up
for yourself."

10. Model of the World: Indicate that the belief isn't reality, only the speaker's belief.

A. "I don't think of this as late."

A. "Do you consider this late?"
B. "I think of caring somewhat differently."
B. "How long have you thought of caring in that way?"
A/B. "I don't think of it in quite the same way."
A/B. "You think that my being on time means that I care?"

11. Switch Referential Index: Switch who the belief refers to.

A. "You were late yesterday."

A. "You're usually on time."
B. "You don't care about me."
B. "You cared enough about me to wait."
A/B. "Does that mean that if you 're late, you don't care about me?"
A/B. "Is your promptness a sign that you care about me?"

12. Apply to Self: Apply criteria in the statement to the statement itself. In order to do
this, you also have to switch referential index and go meta.

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 A. "It's too late for you to say that now."
A. "I wish you'd said that earlier. "
B. "Your saying that shows me you don't care about me. "
B. "That's not a very caring thing to say. "
A/B. "If you'd said that to me earlier, I'd know you cared about me. "
A/B. "Your concern with my promptness shows me that you don't care about me. "

13. Hierarchy of Criteria: Use another more highly-valued criterion to change the belief. (This
always enlarges the frame.)

A. "Is promptness really more important to you than my taking the time to look nice for
you?"
B "Which do you think should be more important, showing my caring for you, or my
staying alive?"
A/B. "I agree with that, but it's more important for me to not to have a fatal accident."
You can also pit one of the stated criteria against the other, forcing the person to change
the equivalence or cause-effect into a hierarchy.

A/B. "Which is more important to you—my caring about you or my promptness?"

14. Meta-frame: Go meta to the original belief (other than Intent, Model of the World,
Apply to Self, and Chunking Up which are also meta-frames).

A. "I'm glad you noticed that I was late."

B. "It's important to you whether or not I care."
A/B. "I'm pleased that you could tell me that."
A/B. "How do you feel about telling me that now?"
A/B. "Your telling me that means that you care a lot about me."

15. Analogy/Metaphor: Lateral chunking that uses a very different content and/or
context that is "isomorphic" (has the same form) as a vehicle for accomplishing any of
the patterns listed above. Which of the patterns above are contained in the following
mini-metaphors?

"A river runs to the ocean as fast as it can."

"The water held captive behind a dam still yearns for the sea."

"A friend of mine always complained about her husband being late, but when he died,
lateness took on a new meaning."
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 16. Internal State (IS), Internal Computation (IC), or External Behavior (EB): All
the 14 patterns can be varied by directing your response to one of these three aspects.

What sleight-of-mouth elements are used in each of the following sentences?

1. "I care about you too much to try to be prompt when I'm not ready."
2. "I wanted to take the time to look really nice for you, to show you how much I
care."
3. "Do you care more about my promptness than you care about our relationship?"
4 "You must not care about me or you wouldn't say that to me."
5. "It's not my being late that should let you know I don't care; it's the way I dress
so poorly."
6. "I know our relationship is strong enough to deal with difficulties like this once in
a while."
7. "Are you concerned about my caring because you're not sure about your feelings
forme?"
8. "My being prompt is only one of the many ways you can know if I care about
you."
9. "Since you know I don't care about you, why do you bother to tell me?"
10. "Your concern for my promptness is causing me not to care about you."
11. "Your being concerned about my promptness is not very caring."
12. "Your telling me this makes me care about you less."
13. "How could you tell me such an uncaring thing so late in our relationship!"
14. "Hearing that tells me that caring is something that is possible in our
relationship."
15. "I know I'm late; I had a lot of other very important things to do."
16. "Then your best friend Sally must not care about her husband; she's always late to
meet him."
17. "I'm glad that my caring about you is important enough for you to tell me about
it."

Second Example: "Not knowing makes me feel foolish."

A. B.
Not knowing —> feel foolish
(cause-effect)

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 1. Prior Cause:
A. "You haven't had enough training to know."
B. "You just feel foolish because you learned that from your father."
A/B. "Do you feel that way because you've been comparing yourself to very wise people?"
A/B. "You respond that way because it's important for you to know when you don't know."

2. Chunk Size:
Up:
A. "Self-evaluation is important to you."
B. "Unpleasant feelings need to be attended to."
A/B. "You feel strongly about how you think about yourself."
Down:
A. "What specifically do you not know?"
B. "How foolish do you feel?"
A/B. "How specifically does not knowing make you feel foolish?"
Lateral:
A. "What else didn't you know?"
B. "Do you feel foolish not knowing about open-heart surgery?"
A/B. "Do you feel foolish about what you don't know at this moment?"
3. Frame Size:
Larger:
A. "What else don't you know that you're not noticing?"
B. "How many other people felt foolish with you?"
A/B. "Feeling foolish is only one of many possible feelings to have about not knowing."
Smaller:
A. "What part of it don't you know?"
B. "What does your left arm feel like when you feel foolish?"
A/B. "How foolish did you feel about the first part you didn't know?"
Different (but keeping the same criteria): Since this statement is already completely
general, you can't shift frame using the same criteria, unless you shift referential index or
do some other intervention first.
Different (totally: A, B, A/B irrelevant): '
"I'll bet you were stunning in that suit."
"How much did you learn about that situation?"
4. Consequences:

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 A. "Because you don't know, you'll still have the opportunity to discover."
A. "Not knowing will make you curious."
B. "Feeling foolish will keep you from getting too arrogant."
A/B. "This will result in other people feeling comfortable around you."
5. Challenge:
A. "You really do know a lot about that."
"You must not realize how much you do know."
"Did you forget that you do know?"
B. "Perhaps you didn't realize that your feelings are ones of disappointment, not
foolishness." (redefine?)
A/B. "What does not knowing have to do with feeling foolish?"
6. Redefine:
A. "Knowledge has much more to do with understanding your own limits than with being
able to recite facts."
B. "Feeling foolish is really the kind of feeling you have when you spill food on yourself
at a party."
"What you're feeling is a strong desire to know more." (challenge?)
A/B. to redefine A and B, you must go meta.
"This means you are an interesting person."
7. Counter-example:
A. "Are there times when you do know?"
B. "Do you always feel foolish?"
A/B. "Have you ever not known and felt wise?"
A/B. "Have you ever known and felt foolish?"
8. Reality Strategy: "How do you know that.. ."
A. ". . . you don't know?"
B. " . . . you feel foolish?"
A/B. " . . . not knowing makes you feel foolish?"
9. Intent:
A. "You want to understand things."
B. "You'd like people to think that you're wise."
A/B. "The useful purpose of not knowing making you foolish is to insure you continue
learning."
A/B. "What is more important: to complain about these feelings, or to get on with your life?"
10. Model of the World:
A. "You seem to think you don't know."
B. "It's interesting that you think your feelings are those of foolishness."

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 A/B. "I'm surprised that you seem to think you feel foolish when you don't know things."
11. Switch Referential Index:
A. "Others often don't know everything either." (also chunk up)
A. "I don't know either."
B. "Reagan never feels foolish."
A/B. "I wish some politicians felt foolish when they don't know."
A/B. "My son feels foolish when he doesn't know."
12. Apply to Self:
A. "You know when you don't know."
B. "Don't you think it's foolish to feel that way?"
A/B. "I thought you knew enough not to feel foolish about something like that."
A/B. "I thought you knew enough not to say such a foolish thing."
A/B. "I guess you don't know how foolish that sounds."
13. Hierarchy of Criteria:
A. "Not knowing isn't as important as wanting to learn."
B. "Would you rather feel foolish or be stupid?"
14. Meta-Frame:
A. "What does 'not knowing' mean to you?"
B. "You can be glad you have some human feelings."
A/B. "Thank goodness you have a powerful response to not knowing."

15. Analogy/Metaphor:
A. "A rock rolls without knowing the ways of moss."
B. "How foolish a twig must seem to a raindrop."
A/B. "How would a wind blow if it felt foolish about what it doesn't know about the soaring
birds?"

What patterns exist in the following sentences?

1. "Do you want others to feel foolish when they don't know?"
2. "Are you trying to come across as a super-human or something?"
3. "How foolish would you feel if you knew all the things that you don't realize that you don't know?"
4. "Do you feel foolish about all the things that you know but are wrong about?"
5. "Do you ever feel foolish about knowing?"
6. "Do you realize how foolish it is to say that?"
7. "How much do you know about feeling foolish?"
8. "That shows me you are wise enough to know your limitations."
9. "How glad are you that you can recognize when you don't know."

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 SOM Worksheet

Write out examples of each SOM pattern for a limiting belief.

means
Limiting Belief: causes

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© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 5 -Page 19
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 Meta Model III
From Steve and Connirae Andreas
Learning to hear presuppositions is a great start to detecting their beliefs, values and
criteria. Learning to use presuppositions artfully and deliberately can make every
conversation you have a more useful and empowering experience. By presupposing well
and thoroughly enough, you can sometimes complete an entire change process through
asking a few questions!

Meta Model III Exercise

Set a context for an initial interview: Consultant/Client, Therapist/Client, Teacher/Student, etc.
1. A. Think of an area in which you' d like a change. Notice how you represent this. Jot down a
brief description of your representation of it.
Meanwhile,
C. Ask B: What information do you want from A? In what direction do you want to lead A's
experience?
B. Think of a question to ask A that will elicit useful information and begin to shift A's
experience in a useful way.
Write this question down. (Don't ask the question yet.)
2. B and C identify together:
• What presuppositions are contained in the question?
What presuppositions does B have that are not in the question?
• What specific information do you expect to get in reply?
In what direction will the question lead B's experience?
3. B asks the question and writes down A's verbal response.
A notices how his/her internal representation changes in response to the question and makes a
note of it as B and C continue.
4. B and C write down all the presuppositions in A's response.
5. Repeat steps 1-4, B & C switch roles. B and C alternate asking questions, attempting to shift A's
experience through their presuppositions.
6. Group members compare notes (5 minutes at most) on how each question shifted A's
representations.

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 Verb relaxes

Notice the shifts in your internal representations with the following verb forms:
I danced. I dance. I will dance.

Compare these with the preceding forms, paying special attention to the submodality
distinction of slide vs. movie.
I was dancing. I am dancing. I will be dancing.

Notice that each of these forms involves multiple points along the timeline.
I had danced. I have danced. I will have danced.

Having danced, ....

I hope to dance. I was glad to have danced. I will be thrilled to have
danced.

"Were you concerned to have had that problem?"

"Will you be glad to have solved this problem?"
"Having had that resource, how will that make a difference when you talk to her?"

Exercise 1: Backtracking
1. A states limitation and desired outcome.
2. B backtracks limitation into the past, using verb form only (without using the word
'past').
3. C backtracks outcome into the future, using verb form only (without using the word
'future').

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 (Verb Relaxes, continued)

Try out these weird sentences with the actual content of your own:

"If you could make this change for yourself, so that you could STOP, having already
made that change, and see yourself now, do you like the way you look?"

"What will it be like when you have made those changes ... NOW ... in the future ... as
you look back and see what it was like to have had that problem... as you think about it
now, here, sitting in this room?"

"When you will have already gotten (all) the learnings from that problem you had, which
of your new possibilities will please you the most, now that you think about it?"

Exercise 2: Changing Time Frame

Past Present Future

Limitation
Resource

A - Think of a limitation.
B - Put 1, 2, 3 in boxes on the chart above.
C - Use words to match the sequence of numbers in boxes on the chart.
STRETCH: Do not use the words "past", "present", and "future".
A - Give your partners very brief feedback.

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 Applying Presuppositional Forms to an
Outcome
Purpose: Add to the impactfulness of your communication by using a wide variety of
presuppositional forms. Use presuppositions more artfully to assist others (and yourself)
in experiencing their outcomes.
When to Use: In every verbal interaction.
These are examples of the presuppositional forms in the Appendix to Patterns of the
Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., prepared by Tamara Andreas.
Themes
A. You can learn.
B. NLP gets results.
C. You will be confident.
The above three themes (with some variations) are presupposed below with most of
the complete presuppositional forms. What's presupposed is in parentheses.

1. Relative Clauses: a noun followed by a phrase beginning with who, which, or that.
A. Are many of the subjects which you can learn interesting to you? (You can learn
subjects.)
B. The results that NLP gets are impressive. (NLP gets results.)
C. Might the confidence that you will experience come as a surprise to you? (You will
experience confidence.)

2. Subordinate Clauses of Time: clauses identified by the cue words before, after,
during, as since, prior, when, while, etc.
A. Before you learn this, do you want to go for a walk? (You will learn this.)
B. After NLP has gotten results, many people are amazed. (NLP has gotten results.)
C. While you are confident, remember to pace the audience. (You will be confident.)

3. Cleft Sentences: sentences beginning with It was/is noun argument.

A. It's probably your intelligence that enables you to learn. (Something enables you to
learn.)
B. It is the elegance and sophistication of NLP that gets results. (Something about NLP
gets results.)
C. Will it be your skills that you will be confident about? (You will be confident about
something.)

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 4. Pseudo-Cleft Sentences: identified by the form What [sentence] is [sentence]
A. What you can learn is how to use presuppositions. (You can learn something.)
B. What NLP results in is greater resourcefulness and competence. (NLP results in
something.)
C. Do you think what you will be confident in is your charm and grace? (You will be
confident in something.)
5. Stressed sentences: voice stress — use in combination with other presuppositional
forms.
A. Perhaps it's MATH that you can learn. (You can learn something.)
B. I'm especially interested in the OUTSTANDING results that NLP has gotten. (NLP has
gotten results.)
C. Will you be confident SUDDENLY? (You will be confident.)

6. Complex adjectives: new, old, former, present, previous, etc.

A. What will be the next thing you will learn? (You will learn something. You've already
learned something/s.)
B. I hope you noticed the initial results of the NLP work we did. (there have been results.
There are/will be additional results.)
C. Are you happy with your present confidence level? (You have a confidence level. You
have had/will have other confidence levels.)

7. Ordinal numerals: first, second, third, fourth, another, etc.

A. Do you want to learn another technique now? (You have learned some technique/s.)
B. The fourth result that I experienced with NLP was elimination of a phobia. (I have
experienced at least four results with NLP. I have experienced results with NLP.)
C. Do you think that by the fifth time you're confident you'll be used to it? (You will be
confident at least five times. You will be confident.)

8. Comparatives: -er, more, less

A. Do you know someone who learns even faster than you? (You learn quickly.)
B. Psychotherapy gets fewer results than NLP does.
OR
Psychotherapy gets more results than NLP does, (either way: NLP gets results.)
C. Do you want to become more confident? (You are already confident.)

9. Comparative as: ...as X as ...

A. If anyone else learns as well as you do, they must be smart. (You learn well.)
B. What else gets as many results as NLP does? (NLP gets results.)
C. I wonder if anyone else there will be as confident as you. (You will be confident.)

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 5 - Page 24

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10. Repetitive Cue Words: too, also, either, again, hack, etc.
A. Are you also learning consciously? (You are learning other-than consciously.)
B. So, NLP got results again. (NLP has gotten results in the past.)
C. Are you expecting to be confident today, tool (You have been confident other times.)

11. Repetitive Verbs and Adverbs: verbs and adverbs beginning with re-; e.g.
repeatedly, return, restore, retell, replace, renew, etc.
A. Are you ready to relearn this material now? (You have learned it in the past.)
B. I've notice that NLP can repeat its results. (NLP gets results.)
C. Do you want a good way to renew your confident feeling now? (You have had a
confident feeling.)

12. Qualifiers: such as only, even, except, just,, etc.

A. Only you can learn the way you do. (You can learn the way you do.)
B. Except for NLP, few approaches to communication really work very well. (NLP really
works well.)
C. Even you can become confident! (You can become confident.)

13. Change-of-time Verbs and Adverbs: begin, end, stop, start, continue, proceed,
already, yet, still, anymore, etc.
A. Do you want to continue learning? (You have been learning.)
B. NLP still gets as good results as it used to! (NLP has gotten good results.)
C. When did you begin feeling confident? (You have been feeling confident.)

14. Change-of-state Verbs: change, transform, turn into, become, etc.

A. I don't think you'd suddenly become a person who couldn't learn easily. (You can
learn easily.)
B. No one really believes that NLP could turn into a methodology that isn't effective.
(NLP is a methodology that is effective.)
C. It would be quite a transformation if you changed into a person who isn't confident!
(You are a person who is confident.)

15. Factive Verbs and Adjectives: odd, aware, know, realize, regret, etc.
A. Are you aware of your learning ability? (You have learning ability.)
B. It's hard to believe some of the results that NLP gets! (NLP gets results.)
C. Are you pleased that you can be confident? (You can be confident.)

Section 5 - Page 25
NLP Comprehensive Master Practitioner Participant Notes
 16. Commentary Adjectives and Adverbs: lucky, fortunate, far out, out of sight,
innocently, happily, necessarily, etc.
A. It's fortunate that you can learn, isn't it? (You can learn.)
B. Do you enjoy the good results NLP gets? (NLP gets good results.)
C. Don't you think your confidence is remarkable'} (You have confidence.)

17. Counterfactual Conditional Clauses: verbs having subjunctive tense.

A. If you hadn't been able to learn, you wouldn't be able to drive a car. (Assuming you are
able to drive a car, you had been able to learn.)
B. If NLP didn't get good results, I wouldn't be spending my time on it. (Assuming I am
spending my time on it, NLP gets good results.)
C. If you weren't able to be confident, you would still be living at home, wouldn't you?
(Assuming you aren't living at home, you are able to be confident.)

18. Contrary-to-expectation Should:

A. If you should happen to not understand, I can explain it to you. (I expect you to
understand.)
B. In the unlikely event that a particular NLP pattern wouldn't work, some other NLP
pattern can usually get the results. (I expect NLP patterns to work.)
C. If you should temporarily lose your confidence, you can press your own "confidence"
anchor. (I don't expect you to temporarily lose your confidence.) (You have
confidence.)
19. Selectional Restrictions: (I skipped this one).

20. Questions:
A. Which part can you learn more easily, verbal or non-verbal skills? (You can learn
verbal and non-verbal skills easily.)
B. What results has NLP gotten? (NLP has gotten results.)
C. How confident are you? (You are confident.)

21. Negative questions:

A. Weren't you the spelling champion in fourth grade? (I thought you were the spelling
champion in fourth grade.)
B. Didn't you see the demo subject eating peanuts, to which she was previously allergic?
(I thought you did see the demo subject eating peanuts.)
C. Haven 7 you had even one time when you were confident? (I thought you had had at
least one time when you were confident.)

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 5 - Page 26

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 22. Rhetorical question:
A. What difference does it make if you didn't learn math in the third grade? (It makes no
difference.)
B. Who cares if NLP doesn't fix 100% of all phobias in 20 minutes? (No one cares.)
C. What good does it do to focus on times when you weren't confident? (It does no good.)

23. Spurious not:

A. I wonder if you're not already learning more than you think. (I think you are learning
more than you think.)
B. I wonder whether NLP hasn't already proven itself to be effective. (I think NLP has
proven itself to be effective.)
C. I wonder if you're not already able to be confident. (I think you are already able to be
confident.)

Applying Presuppositional Forms Exercise

1. A presents a simple outcome, using few enough words that it can be presupposed in a
longer sentence. For example, "being confident making presentations" or "eating
healthy food."
3. B uses all the presuppositional forms to presuppose the outcome.
4. B&Cnotice:
a. Did B use the intended form?
b. Did B presuppose the outcome with that form?
c. B & C calibrate non-verbally to notice:
Did your presupposition invite processing / re-sorting?
Did A step into her outcome, or experience some other shift?
Did A accept or reject the presupposition?

Comparisons Exercise

1. A states a problem / limitation.

2. B and C determine comparison involved in the limitation.
"As compared to what?"
"What are you comparing this to, to even recognize what it is?"

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 5 — Page 27

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 Determine: Is this a useful comparison to change? If we changed this comparison,
would that change his/her experience? If not, is there another comparison in this
context that would be more useful to change? [Hint: it's often useful to go earlier
the sequence.]
3. B and C try changing components of the comparison in a useful way. Be sure you
only changing the comparison, not the complex equivalence of cause-effect.

Possible components to change in a comparison:

1. Change chunk size

2. Digital/analog
3. Change criteria
4. Mismatch/match [or less/more]
5. Change time frame
6. Other/other comparison
7. Different self/other
8. Self/self

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Section 5 - Page 28

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 Language Pattern Flow Chart

1. Gather Information: Eliciting the Belief to be Changed.

A. Briefly specify the outcome: "What do you want?

B. Get limitation in terms of A=B or A causes B. This means that we want either A
(cause) leads to B (effect) or A (specific evidence) means B (conclusion).
1. Ask "What stops you?

2. If you have something specific (A), ask:

"How is that a problem?"
"What does that mean to you?"
"What does that cause or make happen?"

3. If you have a response (B), ask:

"What causes you to feel that way?"
"How do you know it's time to have that response?"
"What happens just before you have that response?"

4. If you have a conclusion (B) ask:

"How do you know that?"
"What happens that gets you to conclude x?"
"What's your evidence that x is true?"

C. Check: Do you have a limiting A=B or A causes B? Is it a belief you want to change?
D. Specify context. "Is [A = or causes B] always true?"
E. Find out about other related limitations. "After we have taken care of [A = or causes
B}, will you have what you want?"

2. Loosen old belief. Use all sleight of mouth and presuppositions.

3. Replace with new belief. Use all sleight of mouth and presuppositions.
4. Test. "So now, in that moment when [context of former limitation], is there anything that can
possibly stop you from just automatically [having outcome]?"
5. (Optional) Future-pace with contextualization.
"Now that you have made this change, when do you still want to [have old
behavior/response] even though you also [have the new choice]?"
6. Install on timeline where/when useful. Use presuppositions and verb forms.

© 2003 N L P Comprehensive Section 5 - Page 29

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 An I n t r o d u c t i o n to
Advanced Strategies by
Charles Faulkner

"In this new way of thinking about psychology,

there is no learning, no motivation, no emotion, no cognition, no stimulus, no response, no ego, no unconscious, no need,
no reinforcement, no drive. It is not that these terms are abandoned; what is more important, the concepts themselves evapo-
rate. If the reader starts murmuring such words to himself, he can be sure he has lost the scent."
- George A. Kelly
A Theory of Personality

"There is nothing more tentative, nothing more empirical (superficially, at least) than the process of establishing an order
among things; nothing that demands a sharper eye or a surer, better-articulated language; nothing that more insistently
requires that one allow oneself to be carried along by the proliferation of qualities and forms."
- Michel Foucault
The Order of Things

"The sign (the sentence) gets its significance from the system of signs, from the language to which it belongs.
Roughly: understanding a sentence means understanding a language."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosophical Investigations

"And finally, contextual shaping is only another term for grammar."

- Gregory Bateson
Mind and Nature

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner INFLUENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS, INC

Perceptual Cybernetics™ 1935 W. PRATT BLVD., CHICAGO, IL 60626 U.S.A.
[email protected]
 Strategies
G.E.O. - [Goals, Evidence, Operations] (or T.O.T.E.)

Outcome Well-formedness Strategies

Sensory-based Evidence
Contextualized - Where. When & with Whom
Worthwhile

Behavior Anchoring
Stimulus - Response

G.E.O. Exercise (from Robert Dilts, Tim Hallbom & Suzi Smith)
1. Think of a specific situation (context) where you aren't getting the results you want. Write down the Goal you have in
mind in that situation, your Evidence for the achievement of that Goal (even if you've never reached it) and what you are cur-
rently doing to achieve it (the Operation).
2. Think of a similar context* where you are getting the results you want. Write down the Goal you have in mind in that situ-
ation, your Evidence for the achievement of that Goal and what you are doing to achieve it (the Operation).
3. Compare/contrast the Goals, Evidence and Operations of the two situations for significant differences.
[Typical Aren't Getting Results difficulties include: An inappropriate Goal, Evidence that is for a different Goal, poorly speci-
fied Evidence, and/or a restricted or inappropriate Operation. Significant differences may be in one, more or all of them]
4. Add the resource(s) from the significant Are Getting Results area into the Aren't Getting Results experience by imagining
fully experiencing the Aren't Getting Results situation with the Goal, Evidence or Operation of the Are Getting Results situa-
tion. (These may need to be adjusted to fully fit the new situation appropriately.)
*Note: A similar context is ideally as much as possible the same as the original. Since this is unlikely, one way of thinking of
this is in terms of similar content, for example; Activities (Doing), Understanding (Knowing), Acquiring (Getting/Having),
Relating (People), Being (Place).

G.E.O. Worksheet
Aren't Getting Results Context Are Getting Results Context
(when & where) (when & where)

Goal (what) Goal (what)

Evidence (know VAK) Evidence (know VAK)

[Do] Operation (how) [Do] Operation (how)

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 The Structure of Strategies
The Formal Properties of the T.O.T.E.

Context
(when & where)

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 Strategies, Information Types & Meta-Programs
Strategies Fundamentals
Strategies model is based on George Miller, Eugene Galanter and Karl H. Pribram's T.O.T.E., from Plans and the
Structure of Behavior, a linear programming model. All NLP Strategies utilize the T.O.T.E. process. Each type of strategy
processes a different type of information, thus being functional different.

Types of Strategies
Name Decision Motivation Conviction Memory Creativity Learning
Reality
Function Selection Engage/Act Verify Reference Generate Incorporate
External/Int.
Attention Choice Energy Congruence Experience Alternatives Responsiveness
"Real"
Info Type Digital Analog Reflexive Access Meta / all Re-contextualize
Distinctive

Some Typical Sequences of Types of Strategies

Decision - Motivation - Conviction
Motivation - Decision - Conviction

T.O.T.E. / G.E.O.
Context
(when & where)
META-PROGRAMS
CONTENT- People, Things, Activities, Information, Place
DIRECTION - Away From, Toward
AUTHORITY - External, Internal
PERCEPTUAL POSITION - Self, Other, Observer
DECISION FACTORS - Same, Comparison, Difference

LEVEL - Sequential, Random

REASON - Procedures, Options
CHOICE - Necessity, Possibility
SCOPE - General, Specific
CHUNK SIZE -Abstractions, Details
FLOW - Deduction, Induction, Abduction

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 The Six Principle Decision Strategy Difficulties
Type Difficulty (w/example)Solution

Polarity Ad- Vc-m K -P-Ar-Vc-m-K+Move criteria to the front of the strategy

[Divided mind.]

No OptionsVr-m-K -Ad-Vr-m-K Add Vc after Vr & before mK. Generate x 3 options

[Same old thing. No possibilities.]

Meta-Strategy Ad-Vc-m-K+-p-Ar-Vc-m-K+Imagine experiencing choices & compare feelings

[Too many choices. Can't decide.]

Criteria Spread Vc-0/G-m-K+-Ad-m-K Same as Polarity & include all representational systems
Across Strategy [Buyer's remorse. Left something out.]

Modal Operators Ar-Vc-m-K Find criteria of MON voice/image & change tonality
of Necessity[Have or feel forced to decide.]

Criteria &Inappropriate CriteriaUpdate Criteria to current circumstances

EvidenceInappropriate EvidenceChunk down Evidence & get sensory-based
Lack of Criteria PriorityPrioritize
Sequence of CriteriaTry other Criteria sequences and note results

* A possible approach to Decision Strategy change is to ask if the client has one of the above difficulties.
If yes, make the change(s) in a specific decision experience (context) and then generalize.

Strategy Change Techniques

Moving the Criteria to the Front of the Strategy
[For Remedying Polarity & Criteria Spread Across the Strategy]

1. Having elicited a specific decision difficulty for which this technique is appropriate, find out the criteria for each and all of
the "parts/conflicts". Use exactly the same criteria words the client uses. Be thorough.
2. In the left hand (for clients with "normal" representational system organization) have the client state each of the criteria,
anchoring them to different fingers and places in his/her palm. Go through this anchoring process several times.*
3. Having the client close his/her palm, say "Holding all those Criteria in mind, think of making that decision now." [If you
have been thorough, the client will got through the decision process and make a new congruent decision. If conflict is still
present, find out what criteria have not been accounted for and add/anchor it/them to the client's hand. If the client objects
that s/he can't remember all the criteria, say, "That's consciously. Of course, you know what you want, even if you don't
articulate it." Then re-view/anchor the criteria in the client's hand and proceed through the process.
4. Generalize by repeating steps 1 through 3 with a very different area in which the client experiences similar decision mak-
ing conflict.

*In business, this can be done with by having the client write all the criteria on a single piece of paper and then look at it
carefully before making the decision.

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Creating New Options
[For Installing a Vc and/or Ac to Create New Options]

1. Having determined the representational system organization of the client ("normal" or "unique") and elicited a specific
decision difficulty for which this techniques is appropriate, find out if the client looks at old pictures (Vr) and/or old voices
(Ar) in an attempt to develop options.
2. Guide the client through his/her decision strategy to the V or Ar and then say, "And having looked at it (listened to it) that
way, imagine (while you guide his/her eyes into his/her Vc and hold them their) it changing in some new way, any new way
at all. And (guiding his or her eyes to his/her kinesthetic) how do you feel about that?
3. Repeat step 2 at least three times (Requisite Variety) for multiple options.
4. If there is no Meta-Strategy in place to choose among the new options proceed to install one as well.

Meta-Strategy for Deciding Among Options

[For Selecting Among Options]

1. Having elicited a specific decision difficulty for which this technique is appropriate, have the client think of the first option
and image living the experience of having that option (associated fantasy).
2. On completing the fantasy, have the client evaluate how much s/he liked or disliked this option.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all options have been vircariously experienced and evaluated.
4. Have the client select which option s/he liked best. [It does not matter if any option was "outstanding or the one" as the
client is learning to experience options and then select one.]
5. Have the client Future Pace the option s/he likes best.

Changing Decision Strategy Modal Operators of Necessity

[A Submodalities Technique for Changing "Parts Relationships and Discovering a "Part's" Criteria/Intent]

1. Having elicited a specific decision difficulty for which this technique is appropriate, have the client associate back into the
decision and notice the internal voice(s). Note its/their location in mental space.
2. Noting the voice's location, have it move down one of the client's arms and into his/her palm. As the voice moves, have it
change its tonality so that by the time it's in the client's palm, it sounds like a cartoon character. Draw the client's attention to
how this changes the previous relationship and the client's feelings. [Most often positively.]
3. Let the voice know that you realize how important it is to the client's decision strategy. Respectfully ask it to tell you (and
therefore your client) what so important about what it has been doing speaking in the manner it has been. [This is a request
for criteria. NLPers will note this question also includes the essential reframing skill of separating behavior (in this case,
Modal Operators of Necessity language and tonality) from intent (in this case, expressed as criteria). This is usually sufficient
to reveal criteria/intents such as; "Motivating you," "Keeping you safe," "Keeping you on track," etc. If the voice is still re-
luctant to communicate with the client, siding with it and encouraging the client to reconsider its importance is often helpful.
Keep requesting criteria until you have some stated in the positive and which your client also values. Have the voice notice
the positive response of your client to the voice's criteria.]
4. Have the voice notice that there are positive and attractive voice tones your client finds irresistible and compelling. Voice
tones s/he will listen to. Since this voice wants to be listened to, have it move back up your client's arm toward his/her head
and as it does so, have it take on attractive and compelling tones. Have it settle into a location that is comfortable for both of
you.

Note: If, in addition to a voice speaking in Modal Operators of Necessity, your client's decision strategy has a polarity and/or
the criteria spread across the strategy, this is the first intervention. That way you will have the criteria fully represented before
you move them to the front of the strategy.

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 Cycle Time / Sampling Interval
Establishing the estimated time to the goal/outcome

Varying the sampling interval:

• Longer than the estimated time to the goal/outcome.

• Same as the estimated time to the goal/outcome.

• Shorter than the estimated time to the goal/outcome, but still more than half

• Shorter than the estimated time to the goal/outcome by less than half.

Well-formedness:

Sampling Interval of 6 to goal.

Change the Sampling Rate

Change the Criteria sample to one with the appropriate rate.

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 Changing Criteria
How to Change Criteria

• Outframing - finding yet higher Criteria

• Adding/Generating additional Criteria
• Changing Criterial Evidence(s)

Exercise: Finding/Generating New Criteria

Groups of four or five. One participant offered a personally important Context and his/her Criteria for it. Other group mem-
bers then to simply describe in first person what (other) Criteria they have used for the same or a similar Context. This allows
the Explorer to "try on" alternatives without argument (and participants to calibrate).

Exercise: Finding/Generating New Evidence for a Criterion

Groups of four or five. One participant offered a personally important Criteria and their Evidence for it. Other group members
then to simply describe in first person what (other) Evidence they have used for the same or a similar Criterion. This allows
the Explorer to "try on" alternatives without argument (and participants to calibrate).

Exercise: Using Your Preferred Career/Life Roles to Discover Your Themes of Fulfillment
1. Write down all the careers/jobs/roles you want or have wanted, whether you attained them or not.

2a. Write down what you like(d) about each of these roles (Criteria) and
2b. then what is important to you about them (more Criteria).Do this for all the roles.

3. Review the lists of Criteria for patterns of similarity (Themes of Fulfillment).

Be honest and true to what you find. Wanting to be appreciated, or rich, or loved, or worthwhile can be powerful
positive values.

4. What's so Important to me about: (Themes of Fulfillment)? The meta-criteria of fulfillment. Note: If your themes
include money, power, fame, or sex, this is not surprising as these are the socially sanctioned rewards of our time.
And also, for you, personally, what is important?

Criteria, Time, Motivation and Decision

Further, there is a relationship between criteria and time that is little acknowledged. For example the decision making criteria
for doing what will enable you do what you want is different from your motivating criteria.

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 Criteria & Evidence
Convincer Strategy Belief Change Pattern Utilizing Timelines
1. Ask the Explorer, "What is some simple thing you believe is true about yourself that you wish wasn't?"

Example; "I can't maintain a relationship."

2. Meta Model the belief: "What do you mean by maintain?" and "What do you mean by relationship?"

3. Perturb the Explorer's physiology in order to momentarily destabilize the belief.

Ask, "What is an example of when you had a (the CEq of relationship') with (the CEq of maintain) qualities?"
When the Explorer accesses a 'counterexample' to his/her belief, anchor this.
'Firing' the anchor, redefine the CEqs back into their original terms.
Example: "So you do know how to maintain a relationship."
Get confirmation of this particular case. (Not a belief yet, but an acknowledged incident.)
Elicit Criteria for this experience.

4. 'Firing' the Explorer's anchor, have the Explorer search his/her personal history for other specific examples of when the
client acted in the way he/she doesn't (yet) believe.
Ask the Explorer, "What are other examples of when you maintained a relationship?"
Generate a number of examples (that is in excess of the client's Convincer Strategy).
[This was elicited in the Meta-Programs section of their Master Practitioner Training]
Elicit some Criteria for each example.
The experience of the Explorer should be that the person feels that it is progressively more possible.

5. The Guide assists the Explorer in laying out the Explorer's timeline on the floor, as well as accessing the Submodalities of
Belief [from the previous days Submodalities Belief Change Pattern Exercise].

6. The Explorer returns him/herself on his/her timeline to the first example elicited (in terms of occurence).

7. The Guide guides the Explorer to put this example experience into the Submodalities of Belief and then encourage him/her
to walk forward in time into and through the other example experiences, repeating their names and the Criteria being fulfilled,
such the Explorer 'runs' his/her Convincer Strategy on these experiences creating a new belief, all the way up to the present
and seen by the Explorer going into the future.

Criteria are the standards by which we measure every experience. Was the restaurant wonderful? Is the idea terrific?
Is the project worth your time? Can you live without it? Whenever you make a decision, get motivated, and even when you
think you don't decide it's not worth your time, you are applying your criteria, your standards of what is important. You have
criteria for everything from the taste of pizza to the love of your life, from your clothes to your spiritual path. When we speak
of Criteria in NLP, we are most often referring to the higher values of our lives; success, relationship, satisfaction, challenge,
fulfillment and many more. A criterion can be context specific, and it can permeate our entire life experience.

A Simple Hierarchy of Criteria Elicitation

1. Pick an innocuous object on your person. It could be a watch, a ring, your shoes, even the shirt you are wearing.

2. Ask yourself, '"What do I like about this?" Starting at the bottom of a blank piece of paper, write down all of the words
and/or phrases you use along the bottom allowing some space between each one. These words are criteria.

3. Taking each of the previous criteria words or phrases in turn, ask, "What is important about ________. Your answer
will be higher criteria of the previous one. There may be one or several of them. Write down each one on the line above the
previous criteria and on the same level with each other. Connect the previous criteria with these new ones.

4. Recycle through step 3 until you have no higher level Criteria. This can noticed by the repetition of higher level criteria or
just finding there isn't anything higher.
 Convincer Strategy Belief Change
1. Ask the Explorer, "What is some simple thing you believe is true about yourself that you wish wasn't?"

Example: "I can't maintain a relationship."

2. Meta Model the belief: "What do you mean by maintain?" and "What do you mean by relationship?"

3. Perturb the Explorer's physiology in order to momentarily destabilize the belief.

Ask, "What is an example of when you had a (the CEq of relationship) with (the CEq of maintain) qualities?"
When the Explorer accesses a 'counterexample' to his/her belief, anchor this.
'Firing' the anchor, redefine the CEqs back into their original terms.
Example: "So you do know how to maintain a relationship."
Get confirmation of this particular case. (Not a belief yet, but an acknowledged incident.)
Elicit Criteria for this experience.

4. 'Firing' the Explorer's anchor, have the Explorer search his/her personal history for other specific examples of when the
client acted in the way he/she doesn't (yet) believe.
Ask the Explorer, "What are other examples of when you maintained a relationship?"
Generate a number of examples (that is in excess of the client's Convincer Strategy).
[This was elicited in the Meta-Programs section of their Master Practitioner Training]
Elicit some Criteria for each example.
The experience of the Explorer should be that the person feels that it is progressively more possible.

5. The Guide assists the Explorer in laying out the Explorer's timeline on the floor, as well as accessing the Submodalities of
Belief [from the previous days Submodalities Belief Change Pattern Exercise].

6. The Explorer returns him/herself on his/her timeline to the first example elicited (in terms of occurence).

7. The Guide guides the Explorer to put this example experience into the Submodalities of Belief and then encourage him/her
to walk forward in time into and through the other example experiences, repeating their names and the Criteria being fulfilled,
such the Explorer 'runs' his/her Convincer Strategy on these experiences creating a new belief, all the way up to the present
and seen by the Explorer going into the future.

©1994-2002 Charles Faulkner INFLUENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS, I N C

Perceptual Cybernetics™ 1935 W. PRATT BLVD., CHICAGO, IL 60626 U.S.A.
[email protected]
Section 7 - Self Concept
Modeling Self-Concept 1
General Framing 1
Exercise 4-1: Discovering Your Self-concept 3
Checklist 4: Process Elements of Self-concept 3
Exercise 4-2: Changing Your Self-concept 4
Exercise 4-3: Sensitivity to Feedback 5
Checklist 5: Aspects of Time 5
Exercise 5-1: Exploring Time 6
Checklist 6: Aspects of Content 7
Exercise 6-1: Exploring Content 8
Exercise 6-2: Putting it into Practice 9
Outline of Checklists 10
Exercise 7-1: Discovering the Structure of Counterexamples 11
Exercise 7-2: Integrating Counterexamples 11
Exercise 8-1: Excluding Counterexamples 12
Exercise 8-2: Adjusting the Scope of a Quality 14
Exercise 8-3: Processing and Transforming Counterexamples 14
Exercise 8-4: Grouping Counterexamples and Transforming the Worst 15
Integrating and Processing Counterexamples 16
Exercise 9-1: Building a New Quality 17
Exercise 10: Transforming an Ambiguous Quality into a Positive One 18
Exercise 12: Transforming a Negative Quality into a Positive One 19
Exercise 13-1: External Boundaries; Exploration/Discovery 20
Exercise 13-2: External Boundaries. Experimenting With Changes 20
Exercise 13-3: Internal Boundaries; Exploration/Discovery 21
Exercise 13-4: Internal Boundaries. Experimenting With Changes 21
Exercise 14-1: Connection and Disconnection 22
Exercise 14-2: Mapping Across from Disconnection to Connection 22
 Modeling Self-Concept
By Steve Andreas, ©2002 Steve Andreas, [email protected]

General Framing
Our self-concepts are beliefs or generalizations about ourselves. Every generalization is
the imposition of our limited minds on an infinitely complex and changing world. The
usefulness of a generalization lies in the fact that it can be applied to a wide variety of
different situations. The danger in generalizing is that we accomplish this by deleting
detail, and ignoring differences. As Aldous Huxley once said, "A concept is like a funnel.
When you put an elephant through a funnel, it doesn't end up looking very much like an
elephant." Furthermore, from a given set of experiences, we can generate an infinite
number of different generalizations by selecting different sets of data and ignoring others.
We would all be completely lost without generalizations. However, we can also get lost
within them.

Experience (events, as perceived) + selection + collection --> Self-concept

Self-concept (generalization) + evaluation: (+/-) —> Self-esteem

Self-concept is a generalization from experience that gives you a sense of who you you
are, (or more accurately, how you think of yourself), and is composed of a
multitude of different qualities.

Self-esteem is based on your evaluation (+/-) of your self-concept in relation to your

values. If you like the content of your self-concept, then you can enjoy "high
self-esteem," and if you don't like it, you will have "low self-esteem." (Self-
esteem is at a larger logical level than self-concept, since it is a generalisation
about a generalisation.)

The Power of Self-concept

Changing the self-concept is particularly powerful in changing a person's responses and
behaviour, because the self-concept is:

One of many possible generalisations, based on selecting a set of experiences (out

of all the experiences we have had) and assembling them. A relatively large
generalization in terms of scope or extent;

Something that goes through time and across contexts, (like your name) so that
changes in it tend to generalize very widely in time and space;

A process that describes itself, so it is self-referential or self-generating. It

is an example of a "feed-forward," generative system that creates itself.
©2002 Steve Andreas
N L P Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 1
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 "Neurological levels"

It may be useful to think of the self-concept in relation to the "neurological levels" of

change, as described by Robert Dilts:

Connection/spiritual (experience of oneness)

Identity ("I'm a kind person.")
Belief ("The world works systematically.")
Capacity/attribute/attitude (ability to learn)
Behavior/skill (driving a car)
Environment (home, air, food, etc.)

The value of considering "neurological levels" is that it provides an easy way to

track the general scope or extent of the generalization that you are working with.
However, these levels are not strictly separate, but can nest within each other. Identity,
for instance, can include all the other levels, from "I'm a seaman"
(environment/behavior) through "I'm dependable" (capacity/attribute) to "I'm a
Christian" (connection).
The generalizations we make about ourselves are powerful and useful
guides to our behavior. Exactly how we make these generalizations in our internal
experience determines the extent to which they are useful.

Criteria
When I began modeling self-concept, I had a list of criteria for a useful self-concept. I

a. Resilient, durable and lasting (there when you most need it).
b. Accurate (a good predictor of your attitudes and behavior for both yourself
and others).
c. Self-correcting and responsive to feedback.
d. Unconscious (as in peak performance).
e. Connecting with others, rather than separating.
f. Free of self-importance, arrogance, and all the other signs of egotism.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 2
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 4-1: Discovering Your Self-concept
(trios, 15 minutes)
I want you to get together with two other people to form a trio, and enjoy a short
discovery exercise. I assume that each of you has already identified some quality or
characteristic in yourself that you are sure of, and that you like.
As soon as you sit down together, I want you to close your eyes, and silently
explore your own experience for about five minutes, asking the question "How do I know
I'm ?" It should be fairly easy to identify the summary representation. I want you
to spend most of your time examining your database of examples to find out what that is
like. What images, feelings, sounds or words do you have, and where and how do you
experience them?
Then open your eyes and take another ten minutes to share your experience
together. You can learn a lot just by doing this yourself; you can learn even more by
sharing with others, and assisting each other by asking questions. I want you to do this
without ever mentioning the content—the name of the quality that you are examining.
Talking about the content would only distract you from the task of finding out how you
represent the content. Talk to each other only in terms of the structure—the pictures,
sounds, or feelings that constitute your database, and how and where you represent them.
You can always talk about the content later if you want to.
"Well, I do this and that; what do you do?" Share your experience, and if anyone
has any difficulty, assist each other, "Well, how do you do that?" and watch for
nonverbal cues and gestures that often clearly indicate the size, distance and location of
images or voices, etc.

Checklist 4: Process Elements of Self-concept

Number of Examples. How many examples are in your database? (roughly)
One, five, thirty, a hundred?
Location. Where are your examples in your personal space?
Simultaneous and/or Sequential. Are examples available to you
simultaneously, all at the same time, or sequentially, one after the other (or both)?
Modalities. Are all major modalities included? (visual, auditory, kinesthetic
feeling)
Association. Can you easily step into, and associate into any example?
Submodalities. (Submodalities are the smaller elements within a modality.)
Which submodality elements (size, brightness, distance, movie/still, tonality, volume,
etc.) make them robust and substantial, real and convincing?

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 3
PO Box 648
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 Exercise 4-2: Changing Your Self-concept
(trios, 15 minutes)

Again I want you to start by silently exploring your own experience for about five
minutes, guided by these questions, and then share and discuss what you found with the
others, and help each other find out what you do by observing nonverbal gestures and
asking good questions.
This time I want you to start experimenting with changing elements of your
database, and noticing how that changes your experience of it.
One thing you can do is to go down the checklist, changing each of the variables that I
have listed. Try adding or subtracting examples in your database. Whatever number you
have, try making it considerably more or less. If your database is sequential, try making
it simultaneous, and vice versa. Try adding or subtracting modalities. Find out what
difference it makes to associate into an example as if you were there, and then dissociate
by stepping back out of it and seeing it as if it were a still picture or a movie on a TV set.
Play with changing the submodalities that you use in the database, making the pictures or
sounds more or less intense, making them closer or farther away, larger or smaller, etc.
Another way to explore is to try on the ways that the others in your trio use. If
you have about five large examples spread out right in front of you, and one of your
partners has thirty smaller ones off to her left, try doing it her way. Make only one
change at a time, so that you can notice how each change affects your experience. First
you might add in twenty-five examples to the five you already have, and see what
difference that makes. Then change back to the five you started with, and just make then
smaller. Then change them back to your original five again, and move them off to your
left. Finally, try making all these changes at once, so that you can experience the same
thing that she does.
As you experiment, the main thing I want you to notice is how each change
affects your feeling of certainty or solidity about your self-concept. In the example I
gave, you can compare the difference between having five examples and having thirty.
Which one feels stronger-more real or true? This feeling is a good indication of it's
durability or strength. Remember to start with about five minutes of silently using the
checklist to examine your own experience, before sharing and experimenting with the
others in your trio.

©2002 Steve Andreas

N L P Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 4
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 4-3: Sensitivity to Feedback
(trios, 15 minutes)

Now I want you to return to your trios for another fifteen minutes to experiment
with some of the things we've been talking about in regard to the checklist. Try out
different ways to represent your examples, and use your felt sense of its stability or
strength as a guide to how you can make that aspect of your self-concept even stronger
and more durable. Anything you do to make it stronger will also tend to make it more
sensitive to the discrepancies that provide feedback about how well your behavior is
aligned with your self-concept. Again I suggest that you start by silently experimenting
in your own mind, and then share and assist each other in playing with this.

Checklist 5: Aspects of Time

Past, Present, Future What timeframes are your examples in? Do you have
examples in the past, present, and future? You could have examples from different
periods in the past. You could also have present examples, and different people define the
present differently. For some people the present is only a tiny point where the past and
the future meet, while for others, the present is somewhat broader. You can also have
examples in various times in the future.
Distribution in time You could have examples fairly evenly distributed
throughout your life, or most of your examples might be fairly recent, or in the distant
past, or perhaps only in the middle of your life, etc. It would even be possible that all
your examples were in the future. If you notice some period of time for which you have
no examples, you can decide whether or not this is appropriate, or whether it would be
useful to find and add examples during that time period.
Chunk Size of Time An example might last for seconds, minutes, hours, days, or
years. It can be very useful to examine your examples to see what span of time they
encompass and whether this span is an accurate and appropriate way to represent the
quality.
Spreading How far does a quality spread across time? People often speak of a
"bad day" or a "good year," as if every moment in that period of time was bad or good.
Yet this is almost always a huge generalization, since even a really bad day had at least a
few satisfying moments, and a good year must have had at least a few bad days in it.
Find out how spreading a quality across a longer or shorter period of time in this way can
affect how you think of this quality.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 5
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 5-1: Exploring Time
(trios, 15 minutes)

Using the same quality that you chose earlier, I want you to start by silently
exploring these time variables in your database for about five minutes, and then take
another ten minutes to share and discuss what you found with the others. Assist each
other in finding out what you do by asking questions and observing nonverbal gestures.
After you have shared with the others in your trio, I want you to experiment with
changing the variables that I have listed, and notice how that changes your experience of
your quality.
Try adding or subtracting examples in different time frames, and compare your
experience of your database with them and without them, paying particular attention to
the impact of future examples, and the effect of having a period of time with no
examples.
Take some time to examine the span of time in your examples, and then
experiment with varying this. What is the impact of having only examples with a very
short span of time, compared to examples with a long span?
Examine a span of time in which you exhibited the quality you are exploring, to
find out which parts of it actually represented that quality, and then experiment with
spreading that quality over a longer or shorter span of time and notice the impact.
As before, I want you to notice how each change affects your feeling of certainty
or solidity about this quality of your self-concept, and I also want you to consider how
these elements you are experimenting with will affect the responsiveness of your self-
concept to feedback.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 1 — Page 6
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Checklist 6: Aspects of Content
Perceptual Positions Are all three perceptual positions-Self, Observer, and
Other--included? You could see an example of being kind to someone else from your
own self position, as if looking out of your own eyes. You could watch the same event
from the position of an outside observer watching both you and that other person, or you
could see the same event from the eyes of that other person, as if you were them. Find
out which positions you already include in your database, and then experiment with
adding or subtracting examples from these different positions.
Specific Detail vs. Metaphoric Are the examples in your database specific
"real-life, " examples, like a detailed photo or videotape, or somewhat metaphoric,
symbolic, or iconic? Details are all the little bits of an experience that makes it rich and
real, all the things you could notice if you were actually in an experience. The visual and
kinesthetic texture of clothing, the sound clothing makes when someone shifts the
position of their body, the sound of a refrigerator when it clicks on, the feeling in your
arm as you lean on a table, the rain spots on a window, the way the hairs on your arm
reflect sunlight, or the shadows between your fingers.
Often there are questions about what I mean by metaphoric or symbolic examples.
There are important differences between metaphors, symbols, icons and diagrams, etc.
However, they all delete specific detail, and present a more simplified and abstract
representation, so for our purposes here, they are equivalent. Basically the question is,
"Do you have any examples that are other than real-life videotape examples, and if so,
what are they like?" You could represent strength by an image of a horse, the powerful
sound of the snort or whinny of a horse, or by feeling a horse's muscles with your hands,
and all of those would be specific and detailed representations. On the other hand, you
could represent the same information visually as a simplified outline of a horse, a stick
figure, a depiction of a horse from mythology, or any other greatly simplified metaphoric
or iconic image. You could do the same sort of simplification in the auditory or
kinesthetic systems.
If all your examples are real-life, try making one of them into a more abstract and
metaphoric one, and then compare your experience of the two. If you have some
metaphoric examples, take one and transform it into a detailed "real-life" example, and
then compare that with the metaphor.
Other People When we observe other people who demonstrate qualities or
abilities that we value, we often use representations of them in our database, in order to
identify with them and take on their qualities. This is a very valuable and fundamental
process in human learning, one that can be seen most clearly in small children, as they
play "dress-up," identifying with adults in order to learn how to do all the useful things
they need to learn in growing up.
However, this process is also one that bears examination, because we can also
learn unuseful things in the same way. If we identify with all of a person's behaviors, we
may find ourselves taking on behaviors from them that we don't value. Many adults find
themselves acting in some of the same ways that their parents did, even when they
disliked those behaviors. So it can be very useful to examine who else is in your
examples besides yourself, and be sure that you only include representations of behaviors
that you value.
©2002 Steve Andreas
N L P Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 7
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Major Contexts The contexts that appears in your examples will determine
where and when you exhibit a quality. Most of us sort our many life activities into a few
major categories, such as home, work, play, school, etc. If all your examples of being
kind occur at home, it's likely that you will be kind there, but perhaps not at work, or in
other life contexts. So it can be very useful to examine the examples in your database
and notice the major life contexts that are represented in them, and think about whether
you might want to add examples of having the quality in other contexts that are omitted
or poorly represented.
Other Content Distortions and Biases If you compare an internal image of
yourself with a photograph of yourself at the appropriate age, is it fairly accurate, or is it
distorted in some way? Some people see themselves quite differently than how they
actually look and behave. In shame, for instance, people often see themselves as shorter,
misshapen, or uglier than they really are, emphasizing all their "faults." In shame's
opposite, pride, people often see themselves in an idealized way, looking far better than
they actually do, deleting their faults. Some people see themselves looking significantly
younger or older than they are, taller or shorter, or more or less capable, etc. If you find
any distortions, experiment with changing them to see what you can learn, and decide
what serves you best.

Exercise 6-1: Exploring Content

(trios, 15 minutes)

Now I want you to examine the examples in your database in the ways I have just
discussed, and experiment with changing them. Which perceptual positions do you
include? Try adding or subtracting examples of one or more of the three positions, and
compare this with having a balance of all three positions. Try adding or subtracting
detail, making some of your examples more or less metaphoric or realistic. Notice any
other people that are included in your database, and whether any of your examples
include behaviors that you don't want to identify with. Notice what major life contexts
are fully included, and which are absent or underrepresented, and try adding or
subtracting examples of those. Examine your images of yourself for any other content
distortions and biases, and find out whether any distortion serves you well, or whether a
more realistic image might serve you better.
Again I want you to begin with five minutes of silent exploration. Then take
another ten minutes to share experiences, and try changing these aspects of the quality
you are exploring. Notice how any changes affect your feeling of the stability and
durability of your self-concept, and also think about how these elements you are
experimenting with will likely influence the responsiveness of your quality to ongoing
feedback.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 - Page 8
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 6-2: Putting it into Practice

Next I want you to practice what you have learned so far with one or two people
who aren't in the workshop. Start a conversation with a family member, or a waitress, or
call up a friend. Then at some point I want you to ask them about a quality that is
important to them, and ask the kind of questions that we have been asking, in order to
find out how they know this quality is true of them. Here I have asked you to do this
without content, so as not to distract you while you were learning about structure, but
now you will need to use content.
You can just tell them, "I'm learning about how people think of themselves, and
what is important to them, and I wonder if you'd be willing to help me for a few
minutes." Rather than a long explanation about what a quality is, it will usually be easier
to give a few examples. "A lot of my friends think of themselves as honest, or kind, or
intelligent, or sociable, and other qualities like that. Can you tell me something about
yourself that is true of you, and that you like?"
When they answer you, you can ask about their summary representation. "I'm
curious how you know that. Do you have a mental picture of , or a feeling or
internal voice that lets you know that you're ?"
Then you can go on to ask about their database. "It's great that you have that
quick way of knowing that's true of you. I'll bet you also have lots of other examples of
being . One of my friends sees lots of pictures of kindness, sort of like a big
collage in his mind, while I have sort of a rolodex file, where pictures come up one after
the other. How do you do it, and how many examples do you have?"
As you gradually find out how they have this quality, I want you to ask the kinds
of questions we have been asking, and offer them alternatives that you think might be
useful. "What would it be like if you had more examples? Can you step into one of
those images and feel what it would be like to be there in that experience again? Do you
have examples of being in the future? Do you know what it feels like to be
someone else receiving your ? Do you have examples of at work as well as
at home?"
In order to remind you of all the elements we have explored, I have a checklist
outlining them, in the same order in which we have explored them.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 9
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Outline of Checklists (the initial "tune-up")

Checklist 4. Process Elements of Self-concept

Number of Examples
Location
Simultaneous and/or Sequential
Modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
Association
Submodalities

Checklist 5. Aspects of Time

Past, Present, Future

Balanced Distribution in Time
Chunk Size of Time
Spreading

Checklist 6. Aspects of Content

Perceptual Positions
Specific Detail vs. Metaphoric
Other People
Major Contexts
Other Content Distortions and Biases

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 —Page 10
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 7-1: Discovering the Structure of Counterexamples
I want you to turn inward for about 5 minutes and silently notice how you represent
counterexamples. Don't change anything yet, because there can be some unpleasantness
if you try changing counterexamples without knowing what you're doing. Just find out
what's already there. When you're done exploring, we'll experiment with changing them
in a very cautious and step-wise way. But for now, I want you only to find out what is
there.

Possibilities for Representing Counterexamples:

1. Integrated into the database in the same representational system(s).
2. In the same representational system(s), but in a different location.
3. In different representational system(s) and in a different location.

Counterexamples will be most useful if they are integrated into the database This requires
that they be in the same representational system(s). Change the representational system(s)
first, and then cautiously integrate.

Exercise 7-2: Integrating Counterexamples

(trios, 15 minutes)

If you already had counterexamples integrated into your database,

experiment with separating them out and putting them into a different location, so that
you can experience what that is like. Then shift them into a different modality as well, to
experience what that is like. Be sure to integrate them back into your database when
you're done experimenting.
If you have counterexamples in the same modality, but in a different
location, I want you to experience two things. The first is to change your
counterexamples into a different modality, to experience what that is like. Then I want
you to change them back and then integrate them cautiously into your database, one at a
time. If your counterexamples are metaphoric, change them into more detailed
representations before making any other changes.
If your counterexamples are in a different modality and a different
location, first shift them into the same modality as your examples and pause to
experience how that is different, and then integrate them into your database. Doing this
will give each of you a full experience of all three possibilities.

©2002 Steve Andreas

N L P Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 11
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 8-1: Excluding Counterexamples
(trios, 15 minutes)

Negotiating with inner parts is a method that has been a part of most NLP trainings for
many years, so we won't take time for an exercise, but I recommend that you make a note
to practice doing this on your own, because it is very useful.

Adjusting the Scope of a Quality

Sometimes there are a number of troubling counterexamples that are similar, and it can
be useful to think of the quality in a different way, so that the counterexamples simply
don't apply anymore.

The first step is to group your counterexamples and then examine them carefully for
what is common to all of them (or a group of them). For instance, let's say you think of
yourself as being kind and considerate, but sometimes you have been rude, or angry, or
impatient instead. When you examine your counterexamples for what they have in
common, you may find that in all of them you were overtired (or rushed, or preoccupied
by many urgent things on your mind, or you were in a public situation, or in the presence
of a man/woman, or a particular person, etc.).
For instance, I have found that when I need all my resources for an unfamiliar
task, I have difficulty if there is too much auditory stimulation—talk, music, noise or other
sounds. In those kinds of situations, I literally start to have symptoms of "attention
deficit disorder."

Narrowing the Scope

When you have identified the factors are common to your counterexamples, then you can
adjust the scope of your quality "I am a kind person" by adding "under the following
conditions: as long as I'm not tired (or rushed, or preoccupied, or in a noisy situation,
etc.)." This is an example of narrowing the scope of a quality, excluding the
counterexamples from the quality by redefining the scope of your generalization.
It can also be useful to notice if there is some other value coming into play in all,
or a group, of your counterexamples. For instance, let's say that your quality is
motivation. When you examine your examples of not being motivated, you may find that
they are all situations in which you are exhausted, and you really need rest to let your
body recover. These apparent counterexamples to motivation are actually all examples of
the importance to you of maintaining your health, and that is more important to you than
continuing to work. Since they really aren't counterexamples to motivation, they don't
belong in this database; they are examples of another quality that belong in a different
database of their own. Maintaining your health is something that you require to be
motivated, since it's very hard to be motivated if your health fails. So you can simply
separate what had appeared to be counterexamples to motivation, and relabel them as
examples of a different database for "maintaining health."
We have many important qualities, and although we might like to demonstrate
them all throughout our lives, in some situations we have to choose between them. One
©2002 Steve Andreas
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 of your important qualities might be communicating sensitively and compassionately
with others, while another might be the ability to react quickly and effectively in an
emergency. When you are reacting quickly in an emergency situation, there may not be
time to communicate compassionately. This choosing simply indicates that one is more
important than the other. So when you react efficiently in an emergency, this is not really
a counterexample to being compassionate and sensitive, it is an example of a different
quality that is more important to you.

Widening the Scope

Sometimes it can be useful to widen the scope of a quality. When you widen the frame in
time, you may find that examples of being unkind in the short term are actually examples
of kindness in the long term, as when you refuse a child something s/he wants out of
concern for her future health or safety.
When you widen the frame in space, an example of your being unkind to one person may
be an example of kindness to someone else, as when you ask someone to turn music
down because someone else is resting.
You may have thought of kindness as being something that only applies to others.
When you widen the scope to include yourself, many examples of being unkind to others
may become examples of being kind to yourself. By widening the scope of the
counterexample so that you can see the "big picture," it becomes an example.
Integrating Scope If you examine the group of counterexamples along with the examples,
you may find it useful to think of them both as examples of a larger and more important
quality. The NLP presupposition that positive intent underlies all behavior is an example
of an overarching category, because it includes both undesirable and desirable behaviors
in one larger category of positive intent.
Examples of motivation and laziness may both be examples of flexibly paying
attention to all your needs, a more important larger quality that integrates the two.
Motivation satisfies needs by getting us moving, but laziness also satisfies needs for rest
and rejuvenation. If you were always motivated, you'd become exhausted."
Another way of describing this is that for many qualities there is an alternating
rhythm, such as between waking and sleep, work and play, being social and being alone,
etc. One is not a counterexample to the other. Each makes the other possible in a natural
alternation that provides balance. The Chinese Taoist yin/yang symbol is an expression
of this principle of the balance of opposites. It also exemplifies the principle of including
counterexamples; the white area includes a black spot, and the black area includes a
white spot.
These are all ways of reorganizing your memories according to criteria that are
important to you, so that you can re-categorize your experience. Any experience can be
categorized in many different ways, depending on the criteria you use, and you can use
this flexibility in ways that serve you.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 —Page 13
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 8-2: Adjusting the Scope of a Quality
(trios, 15 minutes)

Get into trios again, but with different people this time, and experiment with examining
your counterexamples, and changing the scope of the quality you have been using. Start
by grouping your counterexamples, being cautious not to group too many at once, since
that can sometimes be overwhelming and unpleasant. After grouping counterexamples,
examine them to find out what they have in common. When they are grouped, often you
can immediately see how they are similar—it usually just pops out, without any effort..
Then experiment with redefining this aspect of yourself by narrowing or widening
its scope in space, or time (or both), or by thinking of a larger overarching category that
integrates the two. If you find that some "counterexamples" are actually examples of a
quality that is more important to you, you can separate those and put them in the
appropriate category. Do as much as you can on your own, assisting each other in your
trio as needed, and then share experiences.

Exercise 8-3: Processing and Transforming Counterexamples

(trios, 15 minutes)

Return to your trios again, and take about 15 minutes to transform several
counterexamples into examples. Take one counterexample out of your database and
move it to your mental "work station" or wherever you review and process experiences.
Then use your skills to transform it into an example by representing what you wish you
had done in that past situation, and what you would like to do in the future, if that kind of
situation ever happens again. Then return the transformed example to your database. I
want you to compare the experience of having only the transformed counterexample in
your database, with having the counterexample linked to the transformed example, to find
out which way feels best to you. Then do several more counterexamples, one at a time.
Work by yourself as much as possible, assisting each other as necessary, and then share
your experience.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 1 — Page 14
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 8-4:
Grouping Counterexamples and Transforming the Worst

(trios, 20 minutes)

Get into trios again, working silently by yourself, assisting each other as needed, and then
share experiences.

1. Grouping. Examine your counterexamples, and determine what a group of them have
in common.

2. Worst. Use these common elements as a basis for selecting the worst one.

3. Transformation. Do appropriate change work on this counterexample, being sure to

include a congruence check: "Does any part of me have any objection to this change?"

4. Check generalization. Think of several other counterexamples from this group, and
find out if they have already been transformed. If so, you are done; if not, cycle back
to step 1 and transform another one—perhaps using a different resource~and again
check for full generalization.

NOTE: If you have more than one group of counterexamples, repeat this process with
each group.

©2002 Steve Andreas

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 Integrating and Processing Counterexamples
(After "tuning up" the existing database using structure, time and content)

1. Counterexamples Checklist
Where and how are they represented?
Obvious or hidden?
Modalities and submodalities
Integrated or separate?
Same Modality, same location
Same Modality, different location
Different Modality, different location

2. Integrating Counterexamples
Integrate one counterexample at a time
Control size and other submodalities to prevent overwhelm of database
Limit number of counterexamples to approximately 5-10%

3. Utilizing Counterexamples
Exclude counterexamples from peak performance by negotiation
Grouping Counterexamples and finding similarities
Adjusting the scope of a quality in Space and/or Time
Narrowing
Widening
Integrating with an overarching quality

4. Transforming Counterexamples
Grouping Counterexamples
Finding similarities
Re-categorizing the group as a different and separate quality
Identifying the worst counterexample of a group
Transforming the worst one
Checking others in the group for generalization

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 16
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 9-1: Building a New Quality
(pairs, 15-20 minutes each)

1. Content. Identify what quality you would like to have as a stable part of your identity.
This pattern will work best with a capability or quality of intermediate chunk size:
tenacity, loyalty, dependability, intelligence, etc.

2. Congruence check. Do you have any objection to having this quality? Check
carefully in all modalities, and satisfy any objections carefully, usually by modifying
your definition of the quality.

3. Testing. Be very sure that you don't already have a database for having this quality.
Proceed only when you are sure that you don't already have a negative or ambivalent
self-concept that would conflict with the positive quality that you would like to have.

4. Positive template. Elicit the structure that you use to represent a strong positive
quality that you like. This will include both a summary representation that serves as
quick reference, and also the database of specific examples that support the
generalization. The database will most often be primarily in the visual system, but
may include any (or all) of the other systems. If the database is primarily kinesthetic,
be sure that it is composed of the tactile and proprioceptive kinesthetics, and not just
the evaluative kinesthetic emotions and feelings. (This is what you have already been
doing)

5. Tune-up. Use all that you have learned to improve what you already do, to make your
representation of this quality even better, by adding future examples, other perceptual
positions, integrating or processing counterexamples, etc. (Again, you have already
been doing this.)

6. Build the new quality. Using the positive template as a model, find appropriate
memories to use as examples in a database for the desired new quality, and assemble
them into the form of the tuned-up positive template. When you are done, create a
summary representation of the quality.

7. Testing. Imagine someone asking you, "Are you ?" and notice your response, with
particular attention to the nonverbal. If your response is ambivalent or ambiguous,
back up a few steps, and gather information. The most likely difficulty is that your
testing in step 2 did not detect a preexisting negative or ambiguous representation.
While there are effective ways to deal with this situation, you haven't yet learned the
skills you need for this.

8. Congruence check. Do you have any objection to having this new quality? Again,
check carefully to be sure that this new quality fits with all your other qualities.
Satisfy any objections
©2002 Steve Andreas
NLP Comprehensive Section 7 - Page 17
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 10: Transforming an Ambiguous Quality into a
Positive One, (pairs, 20 minutes each)

Pick an aspect of yourself that is ambiguous--sometimes you think you're "X,"

sometimes you think you're not "X," and you know how you'd like to be-your values
are clear. The steps below are a suggested sequence. A different sequence may work
better for a given person. Keep the eventual outcome in mind, while respecting the
individual's needs.

1. Positive template. Elicit the structure/process that you use to represent a positive
quality that you like. (What you have already been doing.)

2. Tune-up. Use all that you have learned to improve what you already do to make your
representation of this quality even better, by adding modalities, future examples, other
perceptual positions, processing counterexamples, etc. (Again, you have already been
doing this.)

3. Elicit the structure/process of the ambiguous quality. How do you represent the
examples and counterexamples of this quality?

4. Congruence check. "Does any part of you have any objection to having this quality as
an unambiguous positive part of your self-concept?" Satisfy any/all objections, through
reframing, redefining the quality, accessing resources, building behavioral competence,
etc. before proceeding.

5. Represent examples in the form of the positive template. If your positive examples
are not already in the form of the positive template, shift them into that form.

6. Examine counterexamples (or a group of them), to find if they actually represent a

different quality that can be named appropriately, and separated from the original
quality.

7. Group and transform any remaining counterexamples into examples of the quality,
and place them into the database with the other examples.

8. Check summary. Review your name for this quality to be sure it is appropriate for the
modified database.

9. Looking back. Looking back at your previous experience, what differences do you
notice between what you are experiencing now and what you experienced before?

10. Testing. "Are you ?" Observe nonverbal responses.

©2002 Steve Andreas

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 11. Congruence check. Again check for congruence with the work that has been done.
"Does any part of you have any objection to the changes that you have made?"
Satisfy any / all objections.
Exercise 12: Transforming a Negative Quality into a Positive
One. (pairs, 30 minutes each)

Think of an aspect of yourself that you don't like. You know you're "X" and you'd like
to be the opposite—your values are clear.

1. -Positive template. Elicit the structure/process that the person uses to represent a
positive quality that they like. (What you have already been doing.)

2. Tune-up. Use all that you have learned to improve what they already do to make their
representation of this quality even better, by adding modalities, future examples, other
perceptual positions, processing counterexamples, etc. (Again, you have already been
doing this.)

3. Elicit the structure/process of the negative quality. How does this person represent
the negatively-valued quality?

4. Congruence check. "Does any part of you have any objection to having the opposite
of this quality as a positive part of your self-concept?" Satisfy any/all objections, through
reframing, accessing resources, building behavioral competence, etc., before proceeding.

5. Examine representations in the database (or a group of them), to find if they actually
represent a different quality that can be named appropriately, and separated from the
original negative quality.

6. New positive quality. Take any positive examples and start assembling them into the
same form as the tuned-up positive template. Then elicit additional examples, no matter
how small or inconsequential they seem to the person: "When in your life were you even
a little bit kind?"

7. Transforming counterexamples. Group and transform negative examples into positive

examples, and add them into the database for the new positive quality.

8. Create a summary for the new quality. Review the database and carefully choose a
summary for it that is appropriate for this new database.

9. Looking back. Looking back at your previous experience, what differences do you
notice between your experience now and what you experienced before?

10. Testing. Are you ?" Observe nonverbal responses.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 - Page 19
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 11. Congruence check. Again check for congruence with the work that has been done.
"Does any part of you have any objection to the changes that you have made?"
Satisfy any/all objections.

Exercise 13-1: External Boundaries; Exploration/Discovery

(trios, 15 minutes)

Do you have a single boundary, or more than one?

For each boundary, where is it, and what are its characteristics?
What modalities and submodalities are used to represent this boundary?
Is the boundary analog (varying over a range) or digital (on/off)?
NOTE: It might have both analog and digital aspects, or it might be analog with
respect to some events, and digital with respect to others.

What do you allow to pass through this boundary and what not?
How does the boundary change in different contexts?
What is the positive function of the boundary?

Generally speaking, boundaries protect you from something. What, specifically, does it
protect you from, how does it do it, and how well does it work?

Are there any ways in which this boundary causes problems for you—are there any
consequences that you don't like?

Exercise 13-2: External Boundaries, Experimenting With

Changes
(trios, 15 minutes)

Return to your trios, and again begin by taking about 5 minutes to experiment with
changing your boundaries, particularly in situations that are difficult for you, or in which
you would like to have additional choices. How could you change your boundaries in
ways that would make those situations easier to deal with resourcefully?
Keep in mind the importance of preserving the positive protective function of the
boundary, while you experiment with changing the ways that you represent a boundary,
with a view toward improving how it works, and removing any undesirable consequences
or side-effects.
When you find changes that are useful, future-pace them by imagining being in
the kinds of contexts where you want to have them. That is both a test of how well they
©2002 Steve Andreas
NLP Comprehensive Section 7 - Page 20
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Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 work, as well as a way to connect any new change that works well into the contexts
where you want it, so that it becomes an automatic response.

Exercise 13-3: Internal Boundaries; Exploration/Discovery

(trios, 15 minutes)

Begin by exploring your own internal experience silently for 5 minutes, using the same
list of questions about boundaries that I offered you earlier. "If I had an internal
boundary, where would it be, and what would it be like?" After you have learned about
an internal boundary, notice what it protects you from, and any possible consequences,
both positive or negative, that this might have for your psychological or physiological
functioning and health.
Then share and compare experiences with the others in your trio, feeling free to
keep to yourself anything that you consider too personal to share. Keeping in mind the
protective function of your boundary, experiment with changing it to make it more
effective, and to lessen any negative consequences. Try varying the submodality
distinctions that you use to delineate boundaries, and try on each other's boundaries, to
find out what might work better for you.

Exercise 13-4: Internal Boundaries. Experimenting With

Changes
(trios, 15 minutes)

Return to your trios, and again begin by taking about 5 minutes to experiment with your
internal boundaries even further, particularly in situations that are difficult or challenging
for you, and in which you would like to have additional choices about how to respond.
Keep in mind the importance of preserving the positive function of an internal
boundary, while you experiment with changing the ways that you represent the boundary.
Find what you can do to improve how it works by preserving the positive function while
removing any unpleasant or unuseful limitations, consequences or side-effects. When
you find changes that you like, future-pace them by imagining having them in the kinds
of contexts where you want them. That is both a test of how well the change works, as
well as a rehearsal that connects any new boundary that works well to the kinds of
situation where you want to have it.
Then share and discuss what you have found with the others in your trio, and try
out what others do, in order to broaden your range of experience of internal boundaries.

©2002 Steve Andreas

NLP Comprehensive Section 7 - Page 21
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Exercise 14-1: Connection and Disconnection
(15 minutes)

Think of two experiences that you have had:

1. An experience of being very connected with someone else, in which your

boundaries were faint, non-existent, or very large and inclusive.

2. An experience of being very disconnected from someone else, in which your

boundaries were very evident and prominent.

It can be particularly interesting to compare connection and disconnection with the same
person—at one time you felt very connected with them, while at another time you felt
very disconnected.
Begin by taking about 5 minutes to silently compare how you represent these two
different experiences, and then make a written list of the submodality differences
between them. There will be lots of similarities, but what we are interested in are the
differences. Make sure that you include submodalities in all three modalities (visual,
auditory and kinesthetic).

Exercise 14-2: Mapping Across from Disconnection to

Connection
(trios, 15 minutes)

1. Content of Disconnection. Start with your experience of disconnection from the

previous exercise, and keep the content the same~the people, the context, and the actual
events that happened.

2. Mapping Across. Using the list of submodality differences that you made, transform
the submodalities of your experience of disconnection to connection. Change dark to
bright, dissociated to associated, etc. until the content of disconnection is completely
represented in the submodalities of connection. When you start changing submodalities,
you may find that a particular change is difficult or uncomfortable. If so, simply back up,
and move on to the next submodality shift. Usually another sequence will be much easier,
and a change that was previously uncomfortable becomes comfortable later, after other
changes have already been made.

©2002 Steve Andreas

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 3. Experiencing the New Connection. Stay with this experience for a while, to find out
what you can learn from experiencing this problem with a richer and more resourceful
representation. If and when you like the results of this, future-pace this into the next
likely encounter with this kind of situation.

©2002 Steve Andreas

N L P Comprehensive Section 7 — Page 23
PO Box 648
Indian Hills, CO 80454 NLP Comprehensive Participant Notes
 Appendix A:
Glossary of Common NLP Terms
Our primary goal is to provide you with experiences in the training—through
demonstrations and exercises—that give you new choices in attitudes, perceptions and
skills. Here is a list of the terms you will encounter in the coming days. We hope you will
find this reference material helpful. If you look for a term here and don't find it, please
tell us so we can add it and make this list even more complete.

Accessing Cues - Behaviors that are correlated with the use of a particular
representational system; e.g. eye movements, voice tones, postures, breathing, etc. (see
Representational Systems.)

Analog - All aspects of the communication which are not words: voice tone, tempo, body
posture, etc.

Analog Change - A change which varies along a spectrum; e.g. a volume control,
dimmer control for lights or a shift in body position. (contrast with "Digital Change.")

Analog Marking - Emphasizing a part of a sentence using nonverbal means; e.g. a

louder tone, a hand gesture, etc.

Anchor - A cue or trigger that elicits a response, similar to the stimulus-response of

classical conditioning.

Associated - Being in an experience or memory as fully and completely as possible (with

all the senses); looking out from one's own eyes, hearing from one's own ears, feeling
one's own feelings.

Auditory - The sense of hearing. (See "Representational Systems.")

Backtrack - A spoken or written review or summary of information, usually to

build/maintain rapport and to invite revision or correction.

Break State - To change a person's state dramatically. Usually used to pull someone out
of an unpleasant state.

Behavioral Flexibility - The ability to vary one's behavior in order to elicit a desired
response from another person (in contrast to repeating a behavior that hasn't worked).

Calibrate - To "read" another person's verbal and nonverbal responses and associate
specific behaviors with specific internal processes or states.

© 2003 NLP Comprehensive Appendix A: Glossary - Page 1

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 Calibrated Loop - An ongoing interaction between two or more people in which specific
behaviors of each person trigger specific responses in another.

Chaining Responses - Eliciting experiences sequentially in order to connect them into an

automatic sequence. (Compare with "Integrating
Responses.")

Channel - One of the five senses. (See "Representational Systems.")

Chunk Size - The size of the object, situation or experience being considered. This can
be altered by chunking up to a more general category, chunking down to a more specific
category, or chunking sideways or laterally to others of the same type of class. For
example, beginning with "car," you could chunk down to a Ford or to a carburetor, chunk
up to a "means of transportation," and chunk sideways to a plane or train.

Collapsing Anchors - See "Integrating Anchors."

Complex Equivalence - The complex set of experiences that equal a certain meaning in
a person's map of reality; e.g. the specific set of behaviors that indicate that someone
loves you.

Congruent - When all of a person's internal strategies, behaviors and parts are in
agreement and working together coherently.

Contrastive Analysis - To determine the differences between two representations,

particularly submodalities.

Context - The environment within which a communication or response occurs. The

context is one of the cues that elicit specific responses.

Context Reframing - Placing a "problem" response or behavior in a different context

that gives it a new and different—usually more positive—meaning.

Conversational Postulates - Questions which only ask for a yes/no answer but which
typically elicit a behavioral response; e.g. "Can you shut the door?" The person shuts the
door.

Criteria - Standards for evaluation; qualities that can be applied to a wide range of
specific behaviors or events. Examples: fun, exciting, inexpensive, interesting, high-
quality, bold, practical, new, etc.

Critical Submodalities - The submodalities which are most powerful in determining a

person's response. (See "Driver.")

Cross-over Mirroring - Matching a person but with a different type of behavior; e.g.
pacing breathing with hand movement.

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 Deep Trance Identification - (See "Switch Referential Index", "Other Position.")

Digital Change - A change which is all-or-none, on-or-off with no continuous steps or

positions in between the extremes; e.g. a light switch is on or off. (Contrast with "Analog
change.")

Dissociated - Experiencing an event or memory from any perspective other than seeing
out of your own eyes (e.g. outside one's body).

Dovetail - To fit together more than one outcome, story, etc.

Driver - The most crucial submodality in a given context; changing it automatically

changes many other submodalities, and "drives" the response.

Ecology - Considering the effects of a change on the larger system instead of on just one
isolated behavior, part, or person.

Embedded Command - Nesting a command in a sentence so that it is grammatically not

a command but is marked out as a command by analog behavior; e.g. "I wonder how
soon you will HAVE FUN LEARNING NLP!"

Eye Accessing Cues - Movements of a person's eyes that indicate the representational
system being used. (See "Accessing Cues.")

Firing an Anchor - Repeating the overt behavior—touch, gesture, voice tone, etc.—that
triggers a certain response.

First Position ("Self) - Experiencing the world from your own perspective; being
associated into yourself and your body.

Flexibility - Having more than one behavioral choice in a situation.

(See "Behavioral Flexibility.")

Future-pace - Rehearsing in all systems so that a specific behavior or set of behaviors

becomes linked and sequenced in response to the appropriate cues, so that it will occur
naturally and automatically in future situations.

Generative or Evolutionary Intervention - An intervention that solves the presenting

problem and also generates other changes that make the person's life better in many other
ways. (Contrast with "Remedial Intervention.")

Guided Search - The process of searching back through one's memories to find
experiences that are similar in some way—usually in feeling response. Often used to
identify important early formative experiences that continue to affect the person.

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 Gustatory - Referring to the sense of taste. (See "Representational Systems.")

Hallucination - An internal representation of, or about, the world that has no basis in
present sensory experience.

Incongruent - When two or more of a person's representations, parts, or programs are in

conflict. Being "of two minds," or "torn between two possibilities," etc.

Integrating Responses/Anchors - Eliciting responses simultaneously in order to blend

the experiences. (Compare with "Chaining Responses.")

Installation - Teaching or acquiring a new strategy or behavior, generally by rehearsal or

future-pacing.

Kinesthetic - The sense of feeling. May be subdivided into tactile feelings (Kt = skin
sensing physically feeling the outside world), proprioceptive feelings (Kp = movement,
internal body sensations such as muscle tension or relaxation), and meta feelings (Km =
"emotional" responses about some object, situation or experience). (See
"Representational Systems.")

Lead System - The representational system initially used to access stored information;
e.g. making a visual image of a friend in order to get the feeling of liking him/her.

Leading - Guiding another person in a specific direction.

Lost Performative - A linguistic pattern in which the person performing the action or
judgment is missing from the sentence; e.g. "It's important to know this."

Map of Reality - A person's perception of events. (See "Representational Systems.")

Mask - (See "Perceptual Filter.")

Matching - (See "Mirroring" and "Pacing.")

Meaning Reframing - Ascribing a new meaning to a behavior/response without

changing the context, usually by directing attention to deleted aspects; e.g. "You thought
he was just slow; you didn't notice how thorough and reliable he is."

Meta-model - A set of language patterns that focuses attention on how people delete,
distort, generalize, limit or specify their realities. It provides a series of outcome
specification questions useful for making communication more specific, recovering lost
or unspecified information, and for loosening rigid patterns of thinking.

Meta-outcome - The outcome of the outcome: one that is more general and basic than
the stated one; e.g. "getting my self-respect back" might be the meta-outcome of
"insulting that person."

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 Meta-person - The observer in an exercise, who has the task of giving sensory feedback
to Guide (and sometimes also to the person in the "Explorer" role) in order to improve
performance.

Metaphor - A story, parable or analogy that relates one situation, experience or

phenomenon to another.

Meta-position - (See "Observer.")

Milton-model - A set of language patterns useful for communicating directly with the
unconscious, influencing and delivering messages in such a way that others readily
accept and respond to them. Usually vague and therefore inclusive language.

Mirroring - Matching one's behavior to that of another person, usually to establish

rapport, sometimes preparatory to leading or intervening. (See "Cross-over Mirroring.")

Modal Operators - Literally "Mode of operating." A linguistic term for one or more of
four broad categories of acting: desire, possibility, necessity, choice.

Modality - One of the five senses. (See "Representational Systems.")

Modeling - Observing and specifying how something happens, or how someone thinks or
behaves, and then mapping or demonstrating the process for others so that they can learn
to do it.

Negative Command - An embedded command that is marked out with analog behavior,
although it is grammatically stated in the negative; e.g. "Don't READ THIS TOO
QUICKLY!" (A subcategory of "Embedded Command.")

Nest - To fit one thing (outcome, story, etc.) within another. (See "Dovetail.")

New Behavior Generator - A step-by-step process for electing and installing specific
new responses and behaviors for use in contexts that have been problematic in the past.

Nominalization - A linguistic term for the words which result from the process of taking
actions (verbs) and converting them into things (nouns), which actually have no existence
as things; e.g. you can't put them in a wheelbarrow. Examples of nominalizations are
"love," "freedom," "happiness," "respect," "frustration," etc. (See "Complex
Equivalence.")

Observer Position - A dissociated meta-position from which you can

observe or review events, seeing yourself and others interact.

Olfactory - The sense of smell. (See "Representational Systems.")

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 Organ Language - Idioms that refer to specific body parts or activities; e.g. "Get off my
back," "pain in the neck," etc.

Other Position - To step into someone else's experience fully.

Outcome - Desired goal or result. (See "Well-Formed Outcome" and "Meta-Outcome.")

Pacing - Matching or mirroring another person's nonverbal and/or verbal behavior.

Useful for gaining rapport, sometimes preparatory to leading or intervening. (See
"Mirroring.")

Parts - A metaphoric term for different aspects of a person's experience. Parts are
distinct from the specific behaviors adopted by the "parts" in order to get their positive
outcomes.

Perceptual Filter - An attitude, bias, point of view, perspective or set of assumptions or

presuppositions about the object, person or situation. This attitude "colors" all
perceptions of the object, etc.

Polarity Response - A response which reverses, negates, or takes the opposite position
of a previous statement.

Predicates - Process words: words that express action or relationship with respect to a
subject (verbs, adverbs and adjectives). The words may reflect the representational
system being used or they may be non-specific; e.g. "That looks good," "Sounds right to"
me," "That feels fine" or "I agree."

Preferred Representational System - The representational system which a person

habitually uses to process information or experiences; usually the one in which the person
can make the most detailed distinctions.

Process Words - See "Predicates."

Quotes - A method used to express a message as if someone else said it; e.g. "And then
Fred said to me 'Read on!'" (A variety of "Embedded Command.")

Rapport - A condition in which responsiveness has been established, often described as

feeling safe or trusting, or willing.

Reframing - A process by which a person's perception of a specific event or behavior is

altered, resulting in a different response. Usually subdivided into Context Reframing,
Meaning Reframing and Six-Step Reframing.

Remedial Intervention - An intervention that solves only the specific presenting

problem. (Contrast with "Generative Intervention.")

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 Representational Systems - The internal representations of experience in the five
senses: seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), feeling (kinesthetic), tasting (gustatory) and
smelling (olfactory).

Resource State - The experience of a useful response: an ability, attitude, behavior,

characteristic, perspective or quality that is useful in some context.

Second Position ("Other") - To "become" someone else fully by taking both the
perspective and the criteria and history, etc. of someone else.

Secondary Gain - The positive intention or desired outcome (often obscure or unknown)
of an undesired or problem behavior.

Self Position/Index - Experiencing the world from your own perspective; being
associated into yourself and your body.

Sensory Acuity - The ability to make sensory discriminations to identify distinctions

between different states or events.

Sensory-based - Information which is correlated with what has been

received by the five senses. (Contrast with "Hallucinations.")

Separator State - Eliciting a neutral state between two other states to prevent them from
combining or connecting with each other.

Shift Referential Index - To take only the perspective of someone else, while keeping
your own criteria with which to evaluate and respond to events. "If I were you..."

Six-Step Reframing - A process in which the "part" responsible for an undesirable

behavior is contacted directly, the positive intention driving the behavior is uncovered,
and new choices to satisfy that intention are created.

Sorting Polarities - Separating tendencies or "parts" that pull a person in opposite

directions into cleanly defined and organized entities, preparatory to integration.

Stacking Anchors - Using the same anchor for a number of resources, integrating them.
(See "Integrating Anchors.")

State - A state of being, or a condition of body/mind response or experience at a

particular moment.

Stealing an Anchor - Identifying a naturally-occurring anchored sequence (stimulus-

response) and then firing that anchor— rather than establishing an arbitrary "ad hoc"
anchor for the response.

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 Stimulus-response - The repeated association between an experience and a particular
response (Pavlovian conditioning) such that the stimulus becomes a trigger or cue for the
response.

Strategy - A sequence of mental and behavioral representations which leads to a specific

outcome; e.g. decision, learning, motivation, specific skills.

Submodalities - The smaller elements within a representational system; e.g. a visual

image can be bright, dim, clear, fuzzy, moving, still, large, small, etc.

Swish - A generative submodalities pattern used to change habits and responses.

Switch Referential Index - To "become" someone else fully by taking both the
perspective and the criteria and history, etc. of someone else. (Contrast with "Shift
Referential Index.")

Synesthesia - A very close and quick overlap between a sequence of two or more
representational systems such as "see/feel" (feelings overlap with what is seen) or
"hear/feel" (feelings overlap with what is heard).

Tag Questions - Negative questions tagged onto the end of a sentence in order to diffuse
polarity responses; e.g. "don't you?" "can't you?" "aren't you?" etc.

Tape-editing - A process of reviewing past behavior and then selecting and rehearsing
future-pacing new behavior and responses in order to alter future responses in similar
situations. (See "New Behavior Generator.")

Third Position ("Observer") - A dissociated meta-position from which you can observe
or review events, seeing yourself and others interact.

Transderivational Search - (See "Guided Search.")

Translating - The process of rephrasing words from one representational system into
another, useful in bridging understanding between two people.

Universal Quantifier - A linguistic term for words which are applied to all cases and all
situations without exception; e.g. "all," "every," "always," and negations such as "never,"
"none," etc.

Visual - The sense of seeing. (See "Representational Systems.")

Well-formed Outcome - A goal that is appropriately specified, obtainable, chunked-

down and contextualized, and either helps satisfy, or does not interfere with the person's
other outcomes.

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Appendix B - Miscellaneous Patterns
APPENDIX B - MISCELLANEOUS PATTERNS 0

FORGIVENESS 1
Elements Of Forgiveness 3
An Experiment 3
Transcript 5
Other Objections 8
Self—Forgiveness 10
Summary 11
The Forgiveness Pattern 13
RESOLVING GRIEF 16
REIMPRINTING WITH DIVINE INTERVENTION 20
Robert Dilts' description of Beliefs: 21
YOUR STRUCTURE OF THOUGHT 23
THE DECISION DESTROYER 24
 Forgiveness
by Steve Andreas

A great deal of therapeutic effort goes into struggling with anger and
resentment, because this "unfinished business" causes so much difficulty— both for
the person who has it and for other family members, friends, and associates. All of
us can think of people who spend much of their time preoccupied with old hurts and
injuries, interfering with their ongoing relationships and preventing them from
getting on with their lives. How often have you wished that there were a quick and
easy way to help a someone give up this preoccupation with the dead past and
refocus on present and future living?

In a fascinating and elegant videotape made in 1986 (6), family

therapist Virginia Satir demonstrated that it is possible to resolve long-lasting
resentment quickly. Linda, the 39-year-old client, started with great anger and
resentment toward her mother. But at the end of the 80-minute session she feels only
love and compassion, and says, "I think you're right that I won't ever be able to
look at my mother in the same way again. I feel clearer, and much more loving. I'm
in love with everyone in the room." In a three-year follow-up interview, Linda goes
into great detail about how well she got along with her mother after the session. At
one point she says, "In fact, I felt like I was her best friend, which was r e a l l y
something I would never ever have said before."

Some might be tempted to dismiss this as only a single case, that it was
a result of Virginia's consummate skill, impossible for ordinary therapists to
emulate, or that Virginia got lucky, and that Linda was an easy client. But although
Linda was cooperative, she was a very tough client, as a careful review of the
videotape or the verbatim transcript (1) will show. At one point Virginia says to
Linda, "One of the things I sense about you is you have a highly-developed ability
to stand firm on things." (How's that for a reframe of being "stubborn"?)

Another way to think about this session is that Virginia showed us that
it is possible to deal with a client's long-standing resentment in a very short time,
and then go on to wonder, "What are the crucial elements in her work that could be
discovered, tested, and taught to others?"

About nine years ago, my wife Connirae and I, along with participants in
an advanced seminar, discovered the essential components in the process of
reaching forgiveness, and developed a pattern, or experiential recipe, for teaching
clients how to do this.

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 Recipes
Before describing this recipe, I want to say a few things about recipes in general. Some
people find the idea of a recipe for personal change objectionable, and I'd like to touch on
two of the major objections I have encountered.

Firstly, until recently, many approaches in the field of psychotherapy have typically
maintained that one recipe can be used for all sorts of human problems. That is like saying
that a given recipe will work equally well for a beef roast, a chocolate cake, or a tossed
salad.

Others make the mistake of confusing the recipe with the result of using the recipe. You can't
get much nourishment from the recipe itself, any more than you can find much shelter
under the architectural plans for a comfortable home.

A recipe is only a set of instructions that tells you what to do in order to get a given result.
If a recipe is followed carefully (and the appropriate ingredients are available) the result is
dependable. Our world is filled with the satisfying results of recipes that work dependably,
from cookbooks to computer manuals. All of science and technology consists of detailed
recipes that get specific results in specified contexts.

"The term science should not be given to anything but the aggregate of the recipes that are always
successful. All the rest is literature." Paul Valery (7, p.41)

I am grateful to Paul Watzlawick for pointing out the crucial difference between
descriptive language and injunctive language. Descriptive language is exemplified by
psychiatry's DSM IV diagnostic manual. Over 700 pages describe the different kinds of
disorders that people have, but not a single page tells what to do to resolve them! In
contrast, injunctive language tells you what to do in order to have a particular experience.
George Spencer Brown said it well:

"The taste of a cake, although literally indescribable, can be conveyed to a reader in the
form of a set of injunctions called a recipe. Music is a similar art form; the composer does
not even attempt to describe the set of sounds he has in mind, much less the set of feelings
occasioned through them, but writes down a set of commands which, if they are obeyed by
the reader, can result in a reproduction, to the reader, of the composer's original
experience. " (4, p. 77)

Frieda Fromm—Reichman once said, "People don't come to therapy for explanation; they
come for experience." A recipe is only a dependable way to create a specific experience.

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 Elements Of Forgiveness
There are two major processes on the path to forgiveness:

1. The first process is discovering the specific mental transformations that a

particular person needs to make in order to reach the state of forgiveness. This is
determined by a gentle exploration of internal images, voices, etc.— comparing how
a person represents someone who has already been forgiven with how they represent
someone they are still angry at. This quickly provides information about the
internal perceptual changes that need to be made for this particular person. Once
this is known, the changes can be made in a few minutes.

2. The second part of the process usually takes somewhat longer: dealing with the
objections that a client has to going ahead with reaching forgiveness. These
objections often have to do with wanting protection against the expected
consequences of forgiveness: "If I forgave him, then something bad would
happen"—I'd be tempted to reconcile with him, he could hurt me again, etc.
Objections about consequences need to be met by eliciting or teaching specific
protective coping skills. "If you forgave him, how could you still maintain your
resolve to stay separate and be protected against future hurt?"

Other objections have to do with the meaning of forgiveness to the client. "If I
forgave her, that would mean something about me—that I'm a wimp, that I condone
what she did to me, etc." Objections about meaning need to be met by changing the
client's meaning through some kind of reframing. "Can you see that far from being
a wimp, your forgiving her would mean that you have accomplished a change that
takes great courage, compassion and understanding—one that only a few human
beings are capable of?"

An Experiment
A short mind-experiment can provide you with a very compact experience of these
elements in the forgiveness process:

1. First think of two people in your life:

a. someone you like very much, and

b. someone you dislike very much.

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 2. After identifying these two people, think of them simultaneously.

3. Continuing to think of these two people in your mind simultaneously, notice

how you represent them differently in your mind.

a. First look at your images. One image is probably larger than the other one,
farther away than the other, one brighter or more colorful than the other,
one more to your left than the other, one higher or lower than the other, etc.

b. Next notice your auditory experience of these two people. Is there a voice
with one image and not with the other, or are there differences in the volume
tonality, or tempo of the two voices, etc?

c. Finally notice differences in your feelings in response to these two images.

Besides feeling like for one and dislike for the other, do you feel
colder/warmer, more connected/ disconnected, etc., with one than the other?

4. Now comes the really interesting part. Try exchanging the locations of the
images of the two people in your mind, and notice how your feelings change in
response to this little experiment. For instance, I represented the disliked person
small, far away, dim, on my right and silent. The image of the liked person was
large, close, bright, on my left, with a clear voice. If I exchange the two, the
disliked person is on my left, large and bright, with a clear voice.

Many people simply refuse to do this experiment. Those who are willing to try this,
at least for a few moments just to see what it is like, typically feel uncomfortable
and unsafe, and want to quickly put the images back where they started.

There are four main points that I'd like to draw from this little experiment:

1. The location and other process characteristics of internal images are vitally
important in determining our responses to them.

2. Since these process characteristics are completely independent of the content of

the image, they can be used with any content, and constitute interventions that are
totally content-free.

3. When you tried the experiment of exchanging the images, you found that it was
relatively easy to move them around and change how you represent them.

4. Before you would be willing to make such a change permanent, we would have
to find some way to satisfy your felt objections to making the change—you would
need to be able to feel completely comfortable and safe with the new arrangement
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 These four main points are true of all therapeutic work. In the following, they are
illustrated by an edited transcript of an audio taped demonstration (2) of the
forgiveness pattern with a woman who was angry with an ex-boyfriend.

Transcript
Steve: Ann, you have someone you're still angry with, and you also have in mind
someone you have forgiven. Think of those two experiences; how are they different?

Ann: (briskly:) The anger is here on the right; it's close, larger than life. (softly
and more slowly:) Forgiveness is pretty far out in front of me, 10 or 12 feet, perhaps
three or four inches high. (rapidly:) Anger is in really bright, stark, angry colors.
(softly:) The forgiveness one is pastel, softly lit from the back. I feel soft and warm
and connected with that person. Forgiveness is real quiet. (quickly) The angry one
has lots of dialogue, with "Yeah, buts" and rationalizations; it's argumentative.

Steve: OK, now what objection do you have to transforming anger into forgiveness?

Ann: (thoughtfully) It feels like leverage, a way that I can get the change that is
needed.

Steve: So, you have some outcome, and by remaining angry you think that will help
you get it. What is it about remaining angry that helps you make progress toward
the outcome?

Ann: By remaining angry, that creates, literally, distance between us, and he doesn't
want the distance; so as long as I'm angry, then he needs to do something.

Steve: You strike me as a fairly resourceful woman. How could you maintain
distance without having to be angry, so that you could enjoy it even more?

Ann: The objecting part is saying, "If I let go of this anger, then I'll let him come
back, and he won't have made the requisite changes. And then we'll be right back
where we were before.

Steve: It sounds like that part doesn't believe that you, Ann, have the strength of
mind or character, or whatever, to maintain a particular outcome and go for it.

Ann: Not without a lot of struggle.

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 Steve; OK. What makes it difficult?

Ann: It just seems like there's such a discrepancy in our value systems.

Steve: Given that you recognize this discrepancy in value systems, it sounds like
you've made a fairly congruent decision that distance is the best thing, at least for
now. And you said something about leverage—that this person wants to be back
with you, and that as long as you can say "not now " you have a way to create some
motivation for him to maybe make changes.

Ann: Right.

Steve: Now given that's a decision you've made, what do you need the anger for? It
seems to me it would be even easier to do all that without anger. It would give you
even more of a feeling of power and upholding your own values. Ann: It appears
easier with anger.

Steve: What makes it appear easier? Is it just that it's familiar?

Ann: (thoughtfully) There is an element of familiarity in there.

Steve: Try traveling into the future. Imagine that over the next week, you have no
anger, and that you're very clear, and your mind is set on this goal, and you could
be even more comfortable in just simply saying "No," to any possible
encroachment, or whatever... Do you have any objections to that? (No.) Does any
part have any objection? (No.) OK, are there any other objections? (No.)

It sounds like you still have some connection with this person, that there are some
valuable parts of this person that you also respect and have warm feelings toward
as well. A lot of people think that if you feel warmly toward someone, that means
you can't feel angry at them, or you can't deny them something. To me, it's even
more respectful of them as a whole person if you can say, "Look, this part of you
fits for me beautifully; this part over here doesn't fit for me and I don't want it. "
And just be really clear about that. It's not that you're bad or that I'm good. It's
just, "This fits for me and that doesn't."

It can be even easier for you to say what doesn't fit if you acknowledge the parts
that do fit, so that you're not rejecting him as a whole. That has got to be hard for
him; he's going to be defensive, and then you 're going to have to be defensive, and
so on. But if you can say, "Gosh, the way you do this is wonderful, and this over
here doesn't fit for me, and I refuse to do it. " Does that make sense to you? (Yes.)

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 OK, let's go ahead and change your anger to forgiveness. As we do this, I want you
to be very sensitive to any other objections that might come up. Take this
representation of him on your right, and move it over here and farther away, and
see what other changes occur spontaneously. Find out what it's like to represent
this person in pastel hues, softly lit from the back, just like that other person you
have already forgiven.

Ann: (softly, thoughtfully) I feel a loss of power; the powerlessness of not being
able to say "No."

Steve: And what is it that prevents you from saying "No " to future harm?

Ann: (happily) I just fixed it. I brought him closer, so he's life-size, so then we're
equal. When he was smaller than life-size, then I felt pity and I couldn't say "No."

Steve: And now, what's your feeling toward him? Do you have that warmth, and
sense of connection?

Ann: Yeah, and I can have a conversation with him as equals, rather than having to
play top dog or underdog.

Steve: Great. Now close your eyes for a minute, and jump into next week or
whenever you might have an interaction with him and see how that goes. .. . (Ann is
smiling and relaxed.) That looks pretty good from here!

Ann: Yes. (quietly) I feel softness, and tenderness, and understanding, and a real
connection that wasn't there before. When you used the word "fit" earlier, that was
absolutely perfect for me, because the objection part was being judgmental, making
him wrong, and those things he did be bad, whereas just to see it as not a fit makes a
big difference.
In a follow-up interview ten weeks later, Ann said, "At the time of our session, he
was in Vermont, and as far as I was concerned, he could stay there. Now he's back
here and we're setting a wedding date! How's that for results! There are two other
things that I'm specifically aware of. One is that there's no bitterness on my part,
and there's no reservation. I find it easy to have the same level of intimacy and trust
as I did before. . . . And I've also used the forgiveness process in my own practice
with couples, and it works."

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 Other Objections
This transcript presents a typical example of guiding a client through the forgiveness
process and another example is now available on videotape (3). However, these are
both examples of someone who already believed that forgiveness might be useful.
With someone who has no interest in forgiving, some preparatory work would be
needed to deal with objections and motivate the client to even consider the
possibility of reaching forgiveness. Some common objections, and brief examples
of dealing with them follow:

1. "The other person doesn't deserve forgiveness." Perhaps not. But

forgiveness is not for him, it's for you, so that you can live in your body with more
comfort and congruence. Forgiveness is so that you don't have to continue to be
burdened by angry feelings, preoccupied with obsessive thoughts about revenge,
etc.

2. "I need to get even first." What would getting even do for you? Often people
say that they feel personally diminished by the harm that was done to them, and that
getting even would help them feel powerful and good about themselves again. I
want you to feel powerful and good about yourself, and I'd like to offer you other
ways of doing this. For instance, I'd like you to learn how to cope effectively with
possible repetitions of this kind of behavior, so that you feel safe and strong in
knowing what you can do to prevent a recurrence.

3. "Anger makes me feel powerful; I don't want to give it up." Yes, there is a
certain feeling of power in feeling angry, in being courageous and willing to stand
up for yourself and your values. But usually there is also a sense of lack of choice in
having to be angry and having to be preoccupied with thoughts of that person who
harmed you. When someone says, "He made me angry," what they are really saying
is, "He can control my feelings; I have no choice but to get angry." I'd like to offer
you more choices, so that you can be the one in control of your feelings and
behavior, and really stand up for yourself even more powerfully.

4. "I refuse to forgive and forget." I agree with you completely. I don't want you
to forgive and forget. If you forgot, then you'd be completely vulnerable to a
repetition of the harm that was done to you. I want you to forgive and remember. I
want you to remember so that you are protected against possible recurrences, and to
remember in a way that provides you with feelings of strength, choice, and
resourcefulness, instead of being provoked into choiceless anger.

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 5. "If I forgave him, then he'd think what he did didn't matter and he could
feel comfortable doing it again." So you want him to know how terrible it was for
you, and so that he won't do it again. I think that it is important for you to
communicate that to him. I don't know about you, but I find that when I'm angry I
don't communicate very well. Often the other person gets defensive and doesn't
listen, and maybe "blows it off," thinking "Oh, he's just upset; it doesn't mean
anything." I'd like to help you find ways to really get through to him, and my guess
is that will be much easier if you're not angry and upset.
The common theme in all these examples is to completely respect and align
with the positive outcome that underlies the client's objection, and find a way that
the client can realize that reaching forgiveness would actually support that outcome.

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 Self—Forgiveness
With a few minor modifications, this same process can be used for forgiving
yourself fox the harm you have done to others. There are two additional
understandings that are usually vitally important in self-forgiveness: 1) That
everyone always does the best they can in a given situation, and 2) The healing
value of atonement.

1. The presupposition that everyone always does the best they can is basic to all our
work, and is best illustrated by a brief experiment. Think of a time when you
harmed someone else, and you now regret it. Looking back on that situation, think
about your motives, your knowledge, your perceptions, capabilities, fears,
limitations etc. at that time. Considering all this, at that time could you have done
anything different?

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, and subsequent learnings, etc. you may be able
to do something different next time, but at that time you did the best you could.
Understanding this can also be a very useful part of being able to forgive others, but
it is an absolutely essential part of forgiving yourself.

One of the results of Virginia Satir's "Family Reconstruction" process3 (in which
the client directs and observes a vivid re-enactment of the parents' childhoods) was
to be able to see the parents' harmful behavior as the best that they could do in the
context of the limitations and difficulties of their own upbringing.

2. Atonement4 can also be spelled "at one ment," becoming "at one" with, rejoining
with what has been alienated. Anything that can be done to compensate for the harm
that you did to others helps the healing, because it transforms regret into positive
action. This can range from a simple heart-felt apology to taking steps to make up
for the harm that was done. If the actual person who was harmed is dead, or
otherwise unavailable, one can do good to others who are in the same kind of
situation. Many Vietnam veterans have said that going back to Vietnam and helping
the people there in some way has been a very healing experience for them.

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 Summary
We have been teaching the forgiveness pattern for over nine years now, and I'm
happy to report that it has been put to the supreme test: it has been successfully used
even by someone with a complete misunderstanding of the principles involved! Like
any good recipe, if the steps are followed carefully, the results are good, whether or
not the cook has an understanding of what function the different components serve.

The healing power of forgiveness is a very ancient teaching, but typically this
teaching has been to point to a goal and describe it and its value, but without much
information about what to do to get there. Now that we know how to do it, this
ancient teaching can be manifest in the world.

In Warsaw, in 1939, a man watched as the Nazis machine-gunned hundreds of Jews,

including his wife, two daughters, and three sons.

"I had to decide right then whether to let myself hate the soldiers who had done this.
It was an easy decision, really. I was a lawyer. In my practice I has seen too often
what hate could do to people's minds and bodies. Hate had just killed the six people
who mattered most to me in the world. I decided then that I would spend the rest of
my life—whether it was a few days or many years—loving every person I came in
contact with."
—George G. Ritchie (5)

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 FOOTNOTES:

1. The root of the word forgiveness is the Middle English "forgifen" which means
"to give up." The current definition is "to give up resentment against, or the desire
to punish; to stop being angry with; to pardon."

2. I'm indebted to Virginia Satir for this word. When two things—or people—don't
fit, it simply means there is a mismatch. "Fit" is totally non-judgmental, avoiding all
the good/bad evaluation and blaming.

3. For an excellent videotaped example of this process, see (6).

4. Agreement; concord; reconciliation after enmity or controversy.

REFERENCES
1. Andreas, S. (1991) Virginia Satir: The Patterns of Her Magic.
Moab, UT: Real People Press.

2. Andreas, S. (1992) "The Forgiveness Pattern" (audiotape).

NLP Comprehensive, Lakewood, CO.

3. Andreas, S. (1999) "Diffusing Reflexive Anger, NLP" (videotape).

Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co.

4. Brown, G.S. (1973) Laws of Form. New York: Bantam Books.

5. Ritchie, George G. (1978) Return from Tomorrow. Waco, TX: Chosen Books.

6. Satir, V. (1989) "Forgiving Parents" (videotape). NLP Comprehensive.

7. Valery, P. (1932) Moralities. p.41.

Steve Andreas, with his wife Connirae, has been learning, teaching and developing
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) for over twenty years. They are authors or
editors of a number of NLP books and articles.
Address: NLP Comprehensive, PO Box 927, Evergreen, CO. 80437
www.nlpco.com

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 The Forgiveness Pattern
This pattern was developed by Connirae and Steve Andreas and participants in a
six-day intensive workshop in March 1990. It is useful for anyone who is angry or
resentful/blaming, particularly if it is long-standing, and the person who harmed
him/her is dead, or out of the person's life. This out-line of the pattern presupposes
considerable NLP training, particularly in submodalities, and in shifting (and
aligning) perceptual positions.

General Frames. The goal of this pattern is to bring peace and resolution to the
person feeling anger or resentment. Forgiving others (or yourself) does not mean
condoning the behavior that harmed you (or someone else), or giving up the values
that were violated. An important part of the pattern is to reaffirm your own values
and criteria and use them to develop ways of coping resourcefully. The resolution
and integration that forgiveness brings will make it easier to take effective action to
uphold your values and standards in the future.

1. Resentment/Anger. Identify the person and the incident you are still
angry/resentful about, and with whom you would like to reach a feeling of
forgiveness and resolution. Take a moment to notice how you think of this person
and incident now. (Calibrate to client's nonverbal responses.)

2. Forgiveness. Identify an experience of forgiveness in your past. There are two

major choices for this resource experience:

a. You once resented someone, but when you think of that person now it is with a
feeling of forgiveness and compassion.

b. Someone harmed you, and you forgave him/her right away because you
recognized that they harmed you accidentally, or that they were doing the best they
could, etc. For instance, a small child hurt you, and you instantly recognized that he
couldn't possibly do otherwise, or understand the consequences of what she/he did.
(Calibrate to client's nonverbal responses.)

3.Contrastive Analysis. Compare the experiences in steps 1. and 2. above to

determine the submodality differences between the two, particularly location.

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 4.Test Submodality Differences. One at a time, change the submodality differences
of the resentment/anger experience to make it like the experience of forgiveness.
Notice which submodalities are the most powerful "drivers" in changing
resentment/anger to forgiveness. (Typically location will be the strongest.)

5. Ecology Check. "Does any part of you have any objection to reaching forgiveness
with this person?" The most common objections are of two types:

a. Meaning. Forgiveness would mean condoning the harmful behavior that

violated the person's values and standards, or that forgiveness would mean
something about the client, for instance, that he's a wimp, etc. Reframe.

b. Forgiveness would eliminate a positive function, usually protection from

a repeat occurrence of the harm. Separate this positive function from anger
or forgiveness, and provide specific behavioral responses to accomplish this
protective function without the need to get angry.

Satisfy all objections—at least conditionally—before proceeding to step 7.

6. Step into "Other" Position. First take the observer position to observe yourself
and the person who "harmed" you from the out-side, in the context in which are
were harmed. Then step into the other person, noticing what you can learn that is
new to you about this person's experience. What additional information do you get
about how this person sees, hears, feels, and understands events? (This will be much
easier and more effective after aligning perceptual positions.) "Do you realize that
this person (and yourself) was doing the best she/he could in this situation, given
this person's background, limited knowledge or motivation, etc.?" Take time to be
sure this presupposition is in place.

7.Transform Resentment/Anger into Forgiveness by "mapping across" all

submodalities, starting with the more powerful "driver" submodalities you identified
in step 4. (Often changing location alone will be enough.) As you do this, be
sensitive to any emerging objections or reluctance, and satisfy them before
proceeding.

8. Test. "Think of the person you used to feel resentment/anger toward. How do you
feel about him/her now?" Calibrate to the nonverbal responses, comparing with
what you observed previously at steps 1. and 2. Usually the incident of harm will
now be the past, while the person who has been forgiven will be in the present
and/or future, and with a feeling of neutrality or compassion.

9.(Optional) Timeline Generalization. If the person has had many experiences of

resentment/anger, it can be very useful to take the experience of knowing how to
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 forgive, float up over your timeline, then drop down onto the timeline before these
other experiences of resentment and anger occurred. Let yourself move forward
through time to the present, as your unconscious transforms these experiences. This
"re—sorting" process can have a dramatic impact on a multitude of past experiences
and also install forgiveness as a "through time" ability that becomes part of the
person's sense of themselves in the present and future (as in the "Decision
Destroyer").

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 Resolving Grief
A pattern developed by Steve & Connirae Andreas
Part I
A person who is grieving typically represents the lost person as separate from them
in the past. There are many ways to internally represent this separateness or
dissociation. You can make an image of the person at a great distance, you can see a
dent in the bed but see that there is no one in it, or the lost person may appear
transparent, fuzzy, or ghost-like, etc. Because of this, the good feelings of being
with the valued person are lost, and the person is left with only a feeling of
emptiness. Part I of the grief pattern recovers this lost experience so that it becomes
a resource that is fully experienced in the present.

The following steps are written as instructions for you to learn this process. We
invite you to try this out with yourself, and/or with a client.

Preliminary Step: Find a "break state" stimulus. If the client is already crying or
depressed, etc., you need to find a way to change this state to a more useful state
before you attempt to do anything else. You also need to be able to interrupt or
"break" this unresourceful state any time it reoccurs. Even if the client starts in a
good state, s/he may plunge into grieving as you go through the early stages of the
pattern, so you may need to be able to break state later. Having the client stand up
and walk around, introducing a startling distraction, or asking the client about an
area of competence, etc. may be sufficient to break state.

1. Loss (absence/emptiness): Think of an experience of one of the following:

a. An actual loss that you are grieving about and feel a sense of emptiness or
absence, or a loss that you haven't fully dealt with yet. Make sure your
representation is of what you valued and didn't want to lose, not the person after he
or she was lost or destroyed. For example, if your child died of cancer, and you
recall that child as emaciated and comatose shortly before death, that is probably not
what you are sorry you no longer have. It's what you valued and now miss that leads
to grieving-the child's laughter and play, special qualities, future promise, etc. If the
client just sees the ill child or a coffin, ask "How do you know something valuable
was lost?" or "How do you know this is worth grieving over?" until the client thinks
of the valued experience, not its negation. This is extremely important; not only will
the grief pattern will not work without it; any attempt to run the pattern will plunge
the client into unpleasantness.

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 b. A potential loss that you hope never happens, but if it does, you'd like to be
prepared for it. Think of someone that is very precious to you in the same way as
described above. You represent the valued qualities, but as forever lost and gone. If
you choose this option you will be doing "pregrieving": programming in a useful
coping response to a possible future loss. This is particularly useful for the relatives
of people with a terminal illness.

2. Presence (fullness): Now think of an experience of one of the following:

a. A loss experienced as presence: A positive experience of an actual loss that no

longer seems like a loss; you experience the lost person as "still with you" in some
way. You have a sense of presence or fullness when you think of this person, as if
s/he were not lost to you. Even though s/he is actually dead or gone, that person still
feels like a resource to you in the present.

b. Someone you care for who is not actually present: Think of a person that you
typically have available to you in your life but who is not physically present at this
moment as you think about him/her now. For example, you have a loving friend, a
spouse, or a child who is actually far away at the moment. Yet when you think about
this person, you experience him/her with you as a present resource. Most people can
easily think of an example of this, unless they are very socially isolated. If you use
this option, be cautious about presuppositions that may be linked to this experience
that may not be appropriate, such as that the person could always be contacted.

3. Contrastive Analysis:
Compare your two internal experiences (loss and presence). When you think of the
"loss" experience, what do you see/hear/feel (tactilely)? When you think of the
"presence" experience, what do you see/hear/feel (tactilely)? Make a list of all the
submodality differences between the two. For instance, the loss may be a
dissociated, still, black and white photograph, while the presence is an associated
color movie. Especially note differences in movie /slide, association/dissociation,
location in space, distance, and transparency.

4. Testing Submodality differences:

Use each of the submodality differences on your list one at a time in order to modify
the loss experience and make it similar to the experience of presence. For instance,
watch the still photograph, and allow it to unfold into a continuous movie of what
happened before and/or after the still photograph. When the still has become a
movie, notice to what extent that changes your feeling of loss into a feeling of
fullness. Change each submodality back before testing the next one. In the example
given, you would make the movie of loss back into a slide before changing the black
and white into color. Find out which submodalities are most powerful in reducing
the kinesthetic feeling of loss and increasing the sense of presence. If you find that
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 changing one submodality automatically changes some other submodalities on your
list, that is an indication that it is one of the more powerful ones (a "driver").

5. Ecology check:
Do you have any objections to changing your experience of this loss, so that you
experience that person as being a present resource? Would any of your family
members object if you stopped grieving now? Satisfy any/all objections before
proceeding, primarily through content reframing. For instance, if the client says that
grieving is a way to "honor the dead," you can say, "What better way to honor this
person could there be than to carry him joyfully with you in your heart for the rest of
your days?" or "If you died tomorrow, would you want your loved ones to grieve
and be unhappy, or to remember you with love as they move on with their lives?"

6. Mapping Across:
Starting with the most powerful submodalities you have identified, change the
experience of loss into one of "presence/fullness." Usually the content of the
representation remains the same. However, at times the content may need to be
adjusted in order to match the structure of presence.

7. Testing:
Think of the "loss" experience now. Does it feel like a resource to you in the same
ways as the original "fullness" experience? Is the new representation of the loss not
the same as the presence, in terms of submodalities? If there are still differences,
identify them and use them to complete the change.

Part II
Part I utilizes whatever internal resources and codings the individual already uses, in
order to transform an experience of something lost in the past into a present felt
resource. The degree of effectiveness depends upon how well this person's existing
strategies work.

For some people, the internal strategies they have already developed for getting over
loss don't also program them to seek out appropriate replacement experiences in the
real world. It's possible that they could feel good about their internal resources, and
just sit in a closet for the rest of their lives. Part II is derived from the most effective
strategies for getting over grief, and makes sure that the person will actively seek
out appropriate replacement experiences now and in the future.

1. Access the valued experience:

Take the valued experience that you just transformed from a loss into fullness, and
represent it in whatever way is natural and easiest for you now.
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 2. Identify Outcomes:
Keeping that representation in mind, identify and represent in a different location
the qualities, aspects, or outcomes of that experience that make it valuable and
special to you. For example, if you lost a good friend, perhaps you valued that
friendship because you felt that you could just be yourself with that person, or you
enjoyed the particular sense of humor that person had. Without necessarily seeing
the person who is lost, we want you to think of the qualities that made that
relationship valuable. Ask yourself the question, "What did that relationship provide
for me that was valuable?"

3. Transform:
If this kind of experience, with these qualities were to occur in your future, what
form might it take? How could you experience those qualities and satisfy those
outcomes in different ways with other people in the future, considering your present
age and living situation, etc? Preserving these qualities, values, or outcomes, allow
additional representations to form in a third location that are appropriate to who you
are now and into the future. These representations may be somewhat different from
the experience you had in the past, in order to be congruent with who you are now,
and what is realistically available to you in the future. These representations should
be attractive and convincing, like other future representations, but they should not
be too specific; they should be somewhat vague and unclear, allowing for a variety
of possibilities.

4. Ecology check:
Do you have any objections to making these experiences or directions a part of your
future? Would anyone else in your life have any objections to this? Adjust this
representation and/or reframe to satisfy any/all objections before continuing.

5. Installation in the future:

Place this experience in your future wherever it seems appropriate, to use as a guide
in making your life fuller and more satisfying. One of our students likes to take this
picture and first make it glow and then multiply it into a "deck of cards" and then
cast these cards into the future so that they spontaneously spread out and fall into
many different places.

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 Reimprinting with Divine Intervention
(developed by Gerry Schmidt)

Remember the importance of your state as you experience a pattern. Words are only a
guide to eliciting experience.

1. Identify and access problematic imprint experience that created the

limitation (often Self perceptual position).
Shift to and maintain Observer perceptual position once the memory is found.
"See yourself in that situation."

2. Add resources, while maintaining Observer perceptual position. Options

include the following:
• Comfort younger self. "Go to that younger you and talk to him/her. Take
this child by the hand and explain that you are from his/her future, and that
you know that s/he survived this experience. Do and say whatever is
necessary until you can observe from his/her breathing, expression,
relaxation, etc. that the younger you is responding in ways that indicate that
s/he is, in fact, comforted."

• "Divine Intervention" with all relevant other people (assumed to be a

parent for this example). Do this one at a time if more than one person is
involved.

a. Have the parent observe the consequences of his/her actions in the

life of the child through time. "Is this what you wanted for your
child?"

b. Separate the parent's positive intent from their behavior. "What did
you want for your child by doing this behavior?"

c. Create a representation of the parent's history that shows how the

parent's behavior is in response to events in his/her background.
(The last two steps (b & c) often access forgiveness.)

• Change personal history for parent. (Add resources.)

"What resource would your parent need to be able to feel,
think and act in ways that allow him/her to carry out his/her
intention in more useful ways?"

3. Re-experience the situation as modified by the steps above, with the "new,
improved parent.
a. In parent's shoes. (Other perceptual position)
b. As your younger self. (Self perceptual position

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 Robert Dilts' description of Beliefs:
There is an old story about a patient who was being treated by a psychiatrist. The patient wouldn't
eat or take care of himself, claiming that he was a corpse. The psychiatrist spent many hours
arguing with the patient trying to convince him he wasn't a corpse. Finally, the psychiatrist asked
the patient if corpses bleed.

The patient replied, "Of course corpses don't bleed, all of their body functions have stopped." The
psychiatrist then convinced the patient to try an experience. The psychiatrist would carefully prick
the patient with a pin, and they would see if he started to bleed. The patient agreed. After all, he
was a corpse.

The psychiatrist gently pricked the patient's skin with a needle, and sure enough, he started to
bleed. With a look of shock and amazement, the patient gasped, "I'll be darned ... corpses DO
bleed!"

Our beliefs are a very powerful force in our behavior. It is common wisdom that if someone really
believes he can do something he will do it, and if he believes something is impossible, no amount
of effort will convince him that it can be accomplished. What is unfortunate is that many sick
people, such as those with cancer or heart disease, will often present their doctors and friends with
the same belief mentioned in the story above.

Beliefs like "It's too late now," "There's nothing I can do anyway," "I'm a victim.. .my number
came up." Can often limit the full resources of the patient. Our beliefs about ourselves and what is
possible in the world around us greatly impact our day-to-day effectiveness.

All of us have beliefs that serve as resources as well as beliefs that limit us. The power of beliefs
was demonstrated in an enlightening study in which a group of children were tested to have average
intelligence was divided at random into two equal groups. One of the groups was assigned to a
teacher who was told that the children were "gifted." The other group was given to a teacher who
was told that the children were "slow learners." A year later, the two groups were re-tested for
intelligence. Not surprisingly, the majority of the group that was arbitrarily identified as "gifted"
scored higher than they had previously, while the majority of the group that was labeled "slow"
scored lower! The teacher's beliefs about the students affected their ability to learn.

In another study, 100 cancer "survivors" (patients who had reversed their symptoms for over 10
years) were interviewed about what they had done to achieve success. The interviews showed that
not one treatment method stood out as being more effective than any other. Some had taken the
standard medical treatment of chemotherapy and/or radiation, some had used a nutritional
approach, others had followed a spiritual path, while others concentrated on a psychological
approach, and some did nothing at all. The only thing that was characteristic of the entire group was
that they all believed that the approach they took would work.

Certainly, these examples seem to demonstrated that our beliefs can shape, affect, or even
determine our degree of intelligence, health, relationships, creativity, even our degree of happiness
and personal success. Yet, if indeed our beliefs are such a powerful force in our lives, how do we
get control of them so they don't control us?

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 Many of our beliefs were installed in us as children by parents, teachers, social upbringing and the
media before we were aware of their impact or able to have a choice about them. Is it possible to
restructure, unlearn or change old beliefs that may be limiting us and imprint new ones that can
expand our potential beyond what we currently imagine? If so, how do we do it?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) provides perhaps the most powerful and exciting model of
the mind and set of behavioral tools in existence. Through the processes of NLP, beliefs and belief
strategies may be explicitly mapped and directed.

The three most common areas of limiting beliefs center around issues of hopelessness, helplessness
and worthlessness. These three areas of belief can exert a great deal of influence with respect to a
person's mental and physical health. Hopelessness occurs when someone does not believe a
particular desired goal is even possible. It is characterized by a sense that, "No matter what I do it
won't make a difference." What I want is not possible to get. It's out of my control. I'm a victim."

Helplessness occurs when, even though he or she believes that the outcome exists and is possible to
achieve, a person does not believe that he or she is capable of attaining it. It produces a sense that,
"It's possible for others to achieve this goal but not for me. I'm not good enough or cap[able
enough to accomplish it."

Worthlessness occurs when, even though a person may believe that the desired goal is possible and
that he or she even has the capability to accomplish it, that individual believes that he or she doesn't
deserve to get what he/she wants. It is often characterized by a sense that, "I am a fake. I don't
belong. I don't deserve to be happy or healthy. There is something basically and fundamentally
wrong with me as a person, and I deserve the pain and suffering that I am experiencing."

NLP offers specific techniques to elegantly and effectively help people to shift these types of
limiting beliefs to beliefs involving hope for the future, a sense of capability and responsibility, and
a sense of self-worth and belonging.

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 Your Structure of Thought
(from Leslie Cameron Bandler)

Groups of Three

"A" is to access an example that is true for him or her of each of the
following categories:

I Wish

Step I:
1. A describes to B and C how each category of experience is distinct and different from
the other paying special attention to the submodality differences in each example. Be
sure to check out auditory and kinesthetic submodalities.

2. As A accesses and reports on these categories of experience:

B acts as scribe and jots down the most significant submodalities
C calibrates to any subtle changes (facial expression, body posture, etc.) that is
indicative of a given experience for A.

Step II:
1. After checking for ecology, experiment with using submodalities to change a "wish " to
a "want" , a "can't" to a "can" or a "should" to a "will." What do you need to do
internally to make this a lasting change?

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 The Decision Destroyer
by Richard Bandler

1. Think of a "positive" imprint and find the submodalities that make this experience
impactful.

2. Search for a "negative" imprint experience, and the decision that resulted from it,
that now affects your life in a way you don't like. There are at least four ways to do
this:
a. Think of an unpleasant experience that stands out strongly or was a
turning point in your life. Return to it to discover what generalization(s) you
made as a result of it.

b. Think of a generalization or attitude that gets in your way and use the
associated feelings to search back through time to find the imprint
experience that formed it.

c. Think of a repetitive unpleasant feeling and use that feeling to do a T.D.

search back through time to find the imprint experience and the resulting
conclusion.

d. Float above your timeline and check for dark spots. When you notice a
dark spot, pull up the memory, and notice what it is.

(Optional: Note the submodality differences between the positive and

negative imprints.)

3. Next you will create a new positive imprint that occurred before the negative
imprint that created problems. There are three vital aspects of this experience if it is
to be powerfully impactful.

a. Content: "What imprint experience, if it had occurred earlier, would have

colored your past in a very positive way, so that when you later went
through the "unuseful" imprint experience, you would have automatically
interpreted it in a different way and responded more resourcefully?"

Example: "If my father had told me that no matter what happened,

he loved me and he would always love me."

b. Detail: Now create a scenario with lots of the specific detail that all your
other real experiences have.

The content of the event and the detail that you build in must be appropriate
to the age that you were and the context at the time this new positive imprint
occurred.
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 Example: "It was early on a Sunday morning when all the rest of the
family was still asleep. He had been up all night working. He looked
tired and there was a white stubble all over his face. The sun was
streaming in the window the way it does in the early fall. He asked
me to come sit by him and he took both my hands in his. I was a
little apprehensive because he had never done that before, and I
stared at his brown, gnarled hands with the blue veins bulging,..."

4. Impactful Submodalities: As you build this experience in your memory, use the
impactful submodalities that you discovered in step 1, to make it robust and
powerful.

5. Taking your new imprint experience with you, float up above your timeline and go
back to a point before the negative imprint occurred, and float down into your
timeline, so that you are associated into the imprint experience at that point in time.

6. Then remain associated in your timeline and travel forward in time, allowing all
your subsequent experiences to shift in the light of this new imprint and decision.
As you pass through the old "negative" imprint experience, this will reevaluate and
"destroy" the old decision you didn't like. You can do this fairly quickly, allowing
your unconscious to shift what happens, coloring your past with the new imprint.

7. When you arrive at the present, stop there and see yourself (dissociated) continuing
on into the future, seeing what you will be doing differently as a result of this new
experience.

Variations:
1. Rather than creating an entirely new imprint, it may be useful to find a positive
imprint that actually happened later, and place it earlier in time, so that it is prior to
the problem imprint.

2. Another alternative is to take the more resourceful you of the present (or future)
back to just prior to the negative imprint.

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Appendix C - Modeling Supplements
Some Thoughts on Modeling - Steve Andreas 1
General Principles 1
Models 1
Descriptive and Injunctive Language 1
Technology 2
Methodology 3
Methodology and Technology 3
Epistemology 4
General/Specific 5
Creation/Application 5
The Modeling Project 6
Introduction 6
Your Modeling Project 7
A. How to Start 7
B. What to Model 7
C. How to Proceed 9
Your Modeling Project - Lara Ewing 13
Preparation 13
Examples: 14
The Modeling Interviews
First Interview - the GEO (Capability and Behavior Levels) 16
Second Interview - Model of the World 18
Demonstration of Proficiency 20
Follow-up, Evaluation 20
Some Thoughts on Modeling - Steve Andreas
(This is a first draft of some ideas and principles of modeling, with expectation of a need
for future clarification, development, and revision.)

General Principles
Models
A model is only a more-or-less-sophisticated metaphor for understanding some part of
the world. When physicists describe the behavior of an electron as a "particle," it leads
naturally to some kinds of understanding and predictions, and tends to exclude others.
When physicists describe an electron as a "wave," they discover understandings and
applications that are not available to them when thinking of an electron as a particle.
What is an electron "really"? Undoubtedly neither a "wave" nor a "particle." Hopefully
someday someone will come up with a new metaphor that comes closer to describing
what an electron "really" is, and which yields deeper and more extensive understandings.
Some physicists are now using the metaphor of a "string," which has both particle and
wave qualities, and holds forth the possibility of integrating the understandings that have
been gained from both the particle and wave models. I am not sufficiently educated about
contemporary physics to know how useful this new description has been to date.
Freud's thinking about feelings and emotions was based on a hydraulic or "plumbing"
metaphor (following Descartes theory of how the brain worked). He thought of feelings
as being fluids that were stored, and if they were pushed down in one area of life they
would squirt out somewhere else. Primal therapy, an offshoot, spoke of a "primal pool of
pain" that could be "drained" by screaming.
In contrast, the NLP metaphor is that of an information system that stores information as
recorded memories in one or more representational systems, corresponding to the five
senses. It is only when these records are activated that feelings result from them (if they
are meaningful). If the memory is never activated, no feelings are stimulated. A CD
player has lots of records of music, but it is only when the laser beam reads these records
that there is music. If we used the Freudian metaphor to describe this, we'd say that the
CD is full of music struggling for expression (catharsis). Thinking of a person as an
information system makes it clear why catharsis not only doesn't work but can make
many problems worse, or even create new ones. Although the information system
metaphor has been much more useful than the Freudian plumbing metaphor, yet another
one (not yet discovered) may prove to be even better.

Descriptive and Injunctive Language

Some models are purely descriptive, and do not tell you what to do. Transactional
analysis (TA) was an elaborate description that basically recast Freud's parts model of the
id, ego, and superego into contemporary English (child, adult, and parent); but this

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 description did not provide any methodology or technology for making use of the
description.

In practice, TA borrowed methods and techniques from other forms of psychotherapy and
adapted them to their descriptive framework.

Psychiatry's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual" has over 700 pages describing how
people can have problems, but not a word about what to do to resolve them. In contrast,
injunctive language tells you what to do to reach an outcome. A cookbook is injunctive,
because each recipe tells you exactly what to do to get a particular result. A recipe
specifies:
a. an outcome (chocolate cake or a well done roast)
b. a list of required ingredients (flour, sugar, chocolate, etc., or a particular cut of
meat)
c. a sequential process for mixing and processing those ingredients and how to cook
them to get the desired result.

Technology
A cookbook is essentially a list of techniques, and someone can follow the instructions
and get the result without any understanding of the processes involved. A number of
years ago I listened to an audio tape of someone teaching and demonstrating the
Forgiveness Pattern that Connirae and I developed along with the participants in a
modeling seminar in 1990. (An article about this process can be found on the NLP
Comprehensive web site at: http://www.nlpco.com) His theory about how it worked was
very complex, but had no resemblance to our understanding of the process.
Nevertheless, he led the demonstration subject successfully through all the steps of the
technique and into the experience of forgiveness. In one sense, what he did is the highest
compliment one can pay to a technique—that it is sufficiently developed and precise that
someone can use it without any understanding (or even with an inappropriate
understanding) and it will still work.

"The term science should not be given to anything but the aggregate of the recipes that
are always successful"
—Paul Valery

All of us are surrounded by technology that we use, but do not understand, and no human
being lives long enough to understand even a small fraction of it even if s/he spent a
lifetime studying it. When we use a cell phone, an automatic transmission, or an
antibiotic, most of us don't have the vaguest idea of the physics or chemistry involved..

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Methodology
Technology is a specific application of a methodology (whether the methodology is
known or understood or not). Bronze age people discovered that when arsenic or tin was
added to copper, it made it much harder, but they had no idea why that was so; the
methodology came five thousand years later with the understanding of how small
amounts of impurities "lock up" layers of atoms so that they don't slip and deform when
shearing force is applied to them.
A methodology is a more general understanding of how things work, in contrast to a
specific recipe or product. Richard Bandler has often said that "NLP is a methodology
that leaves behind it a trail of techniques." Most NLP trainings include a mixture of
methodology and technology. Specific techniques (e.g. phobia procedure, change
personal history) are taught, along with at least part of the methodology (e.g. rep.
systems, submodalities, anchoring) that underlie the specific techniques.
Knowledge of methodology allows the user of technology to adapt it to unique situations
in which knowledge of the technique alone would fail. Methodology also makes possible
new applications and discoveries, and new ways of accomplishing outcomes that we
already have techniques for.
For example, an engineer who understands the methodology of materials and structures
can build a specified building out of a wide variety of materials, utilizing a wide range of
structural elements and predict with mathematical models exactly what size to make
everything to achieve a certain strength to resist hazards such as snow load, flood,
earthquakes, etc. In contrast, if the same engineer only knew about how to build brick
walls, he would only be able to design a narrow range of buildings for a few
environments.

Methodology and Technology

Typically a field develops by a kind of "leap frog" alternation of technology and
methodology. Usually some primitive technology, discovered by accident or intuition,
starts the process. Then someone looks at several techniques and begins to generalize
about them, describing some elements of similarity, usually using a metaphor to describe
this understanding. If this generalization is a useful one, typically it indicates other
technologies that could be developed using different processes, materials, or outcomes.
These new techniques, and the knowledge that is learned as they are applied and tested,
in turn suggest other methodologies—other ways of thinking about the technology.
Methodology is at a higher, more general (logical) level of generalization than
technology.
Typically an evolving methodology/technology has very useful pieces that do not yet
appear to fit together. It was a long time before physicists realized how light (and optics)
could be described as a part of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, and they are still
seeking an understanding of how gravity and electromagnetics are related.

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 In NLP there are a number of different models: anchoring, reframing, rep. systems,
strategies, submodalities, "parts," perceptual positions, etc., and it is seldom clear for
instance exactly what submodalities make up a part, where a "part" appears in a strategy
sequence, or how reframing can be understood as anchoring. As we make progress in
refining our under standings, these relations will become clearer.

Epistemology
Epistemology is the study of how we know things. Webster's unabridged dictionary
defines epistemology as "The theory or science that investigates the origin, nature,
methods and limits of knowledge" Every model also has an implicit epistemology, at
both the level of technology and methodology.
Some epistemologies are very simple; they rely on some authority—a person, book or
other original source from which the model originates. Most such epistemologies do not
have an independent way to test the validity of the model, and typically such
methodologies do not develop or change significantly over long periods of time.
Astrology, for instance, has not changed much in several thousand years.
The scientific method, in contrast, includes a rigorous way of testing and revising
methodology, an explicit recognition of the inherent uncertainty in all knowledge, and the
testing of this knowledge. As Hans Vaihinger wrote in The Philosophy of "As If," "Truth
is only the most expedient error." This was echoed by Richard Bandler who said,
"Everything we tell you is lies; but they are very useful lies." This aspect of the
epistemology of science essentially says "I don't care if it's 'true;' I only care if it's true
enough to yield predictions about the world that can be used. The following poem says it
even better:

Not truth, nor certainty. These I forswore

In my novitiate, as young men called
To holy orders must abjure the world.
"If. . ., then . . .," this only I assert;
And my successes are but pretty chains
Linking twin doubts, for it is vain to ask
If what I postulate be justified,
Or what I prove possess the stamp of fact.

Yet bridges stand, and men no longer crawl

In two dimensions. And such triumphs stem
In no small measure from the power this game,
Played with the thrice-attenuated shades
Of things, has over their originals.
How frail the wand, but how profound the spell!

--Clarence R. Wylie Jr.

From "The Imperfections of Science" by Warren Weaver. Proceedings of the American

Philosophical Society, Vol. 104, No. 5, October, 1960.
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 In this epistemology, called radical empiricism by Karl Popper, "truth" is a relative,
analog, function rather than something absolute, and digital, and it is measured simply by
how useful an understanding is.
To summarize, any model has three levels:
1. Epistemology, a set of methods for discovering and testing understandings.
2. Methodology, a statement of the understanding itself.
3. Technology, specific applications of the methodology to accomplish a particular
outcome in a particular context.

General/Specific
The more general a model is, the more it can be applied to a wide range of situations.
However, the more general it is, the less information it supplies about specific situations.
E=mc2 is understood to apply to the entire universe, but it doesn't tell you how to make a
match or how to build a pump. More limited and specific models can provide more
detailed and useful information. One important element is to know the scope of the
domain that is usefully described by a model. For example, NLP is a wonderful model,
but it is not useful in designing an automobile engine or telling a doctor how to set a
broken bone.

Creation/Application
A new model is created when one realm of experience (e.g. "particle") is used to describe
another (e.g. electron) metaphorically, and then further developed through testing,
statements of how to apply and refine this metaphor through mathematics, etc. The initial
creative leap is followed by a lot of work to develop the detailed recipes and procedures
that make it useful. It took over a hundred and fifty years from Michael Faraday's
discovery of electromagnetic induction to the giant generators in today's power plants.

Once a model has been created it can then be applied to other events within the domain
described by the model, or in some cases applied usefully to other domains. In NLP,
Richard Bandler and John Grinder and others developed a number of models, and
borrowed others), while most of the "modeling" done by others (including ourselves) has
actually been applications of these models. We assume that most modeling tasks will also
be of this nature: applications of NLP models to a specific domain and outcome, rather
than creating a new model. (However, if someone is able to create a new one, that will be
wonderful.)

Of course there are plenty of other models available for understanding human
functioning, healing, and development. Some, like crystal healing or aura balancing, do
not share the epistemology of NLP—the requirement of rigorous testing, etc. Others, like
standard allopathic medicine, share the NLP epistemology (at least theoretically), but
their methodology and primary domain of application is quite different (though there is
some overlap).

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 Those who might want to explore how to adapt or describe another model to include it
within NLP practice would be wise to examine the other model at all three levels
(epistemology, methodology, and technology) to determine whether there is (or could be)
a basic compatibility between it and NLP.

The Modeling Project

Introduction
W h y model something anyway? Centuries ago, people used to build barns and bridges
any way they could think of. Some collapsed, others lasted until the first big wind or
heavy snow, while others endured for centuries. Modeling simply enables us to do things
predictably, efficiently, and effectively.
For instance, "solution oriented" brief therapists persistently refocus the client's attention
from problem events to "exceptions" or what we call counterexamples: times and places
when the problem doesn't exist (or at least when the problem isn't as severe).
However, since they don't model the structure and process of these exceptions, they have
to begin the search anew with each client—and some clients don't seem to have
exceptions, or they are very hard to find. By modeling the structure and process of
exceptions, N L P is gradually developing a set of "off-the-shelf software to teach to a
client. Besides being m o r e efficient, this process can study a resourceful exception in one
person and offer it to others who (apparently) don't have exceptions.
For instance, once you know the N L P phobia cure, and h o w to test to be sure the person
phobic response is a very rapid response to a set of stimuli (and therefore appropriate for
the phobia cure), you don't have to find out the exquisite detail of how the person does
their phobia, something which varies enormously from person to person. Some do it by
stretching time into an eternity or an endless loop, some by making the threat huge,
others by making themselves very small, etc.
The N L P m o d e l also enables us to examine other treatments for phobias to figure how (or
if) they work. For example Jerilyn Ross treats phobias by asking people to relive their
phobias, and as they do this she keeps them moving through the experience by asking,
"And then what happened?" "And then?" "What happens next?" By doing this repeatedly,
she teaches people to speed up t h e process and go through the phobic response very
quickly. She doesn't actually cure the phobia, but she does teach people how not to get
stuck in it. After treatment you c a n see that the phobic response is still there, but it's very
short, so it doesn't bother the person as much.
Brian Weiss treats phobias using past-lives regression. Again, his clients don't actually
lose their phobias, but they become less important to them because they learn to
experience them against a very long time frame of m a n y past lives and many future lives
to come. Seen against this wide background, the phobic response becomes much less
important. After treatment his clients say, "I still hate water, but it doesn't bother m e ; it
doesn't matter." This is an example of what John McWhirter has described as a
"perspective" pattern. In the larger perspective of a long series of lives, the phobic
response seems small and insignificant.

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Your Modeling Project
A. How to Start
There isn't "a" way to model something. A modeling process has been successful when
you have a description (in injunctive language) that
enables you to:
1. Gain the skill, or transform a limitation into something more useful.
2. Teach someone else to gain the same benefits.
An even better test of your modeling is to teach someone else your model and see if they
can teach someone else to gain the same benefits. When you can do this, you have
succeeded, and how you get there is not important.

B. What to Model
The first step is to define the skill, ability or limitation that you want to model, and the
context in which it occurs. Chunking this down to a reasonable size is very important,
particularly when you have limited time. Even when you have more time it is usually
much more useful to chunk down to components, model each one separately, and then
integrate these components into a larger model. One important distinction is between
modeling a process that is mostly internal, such as shame or feeling bad about being
criticized, in contrast to processes that are interactional, such as negotiation. Negotiation
is inherently more complex, because you have at least two individual worlds and their
interaction to deal with. It can be useful to chunk down to a particular kind of interaction,
or stage in the interaction, or even to one person's process/ response in the particular
interaction. A precise model of a small part of a process is generally much more useful
than an imprecise model of a larger process—and you can build a precise model of a
larger process by modeling small pieces of it and then integrating them.
There are many possibilities for how to choose a starting point.
Following are a few of the possibilities that we have found useful:

1. Think of a particular difficulty and its resolution (for which there is not yet an NLP
pattern). Usually these will be nominalizations ("difficulty," "resolution"), and your
modeling task will be to denominalize it into the processing that the person goes
through, to find out "How, specifically?" the person does it. If you model a
nominalized experience, it will typically be at a sufficiently general level that your
model will be applicable to a wider range of people than if you model a simpler and
more specific skill. However, usually as the level of generalization increases, so does
the complexity of the process you will need to model. You can model the problem
and its resolution separately-or alternately for contrast—and then model a process
that will make the transition from one to the other (more on this later). This is how
Connirae and I modeled the Grief, Guilt, Shame, and Forgiveness patterns.
Remember that your model can only be as good as the experiences that you choose to
model. When modeling grief, for example, we passed over people who said (often

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 with a sigh, and shallow breathing) that they now felt "OK" about the lost person.
Instead we chose people who felt (and behaved) joyously when thinking of the lost
person. If we had modeled the former, we would have modeled a less-than-optimum
solution. However, for practice in learning how to model, modeling a less-than-
optimal example can be just as useful.

2. Think of a particular skill that you, or your clients, want or need. Find a particularly
good example of someone who has that skill behaviorally, and model what they do.
This is how we modeled how to respond resourcefully to criticism. In selecting a
model, be very cautious about people's self reports. For example, some people say
that they are good at motivating themselves because they are so aware of the hour-
long process they use to get out of bed! Others will say they are not good at
motivating themselves because they can't continue to motivate themselves at the end
of a highly active and productive 18-hour day! Find someone who actually exhibits,
or can demonstrate to you, the skill or quality that you want to model.

3. Explore the structure of anything that you are curious about or fascinated by. This is
how Connirae and I modeled how people represent time and criteria, and how I
modeled the structure of self-concept. This is potentially much more generative, but it
may also be more complex, and the applications, uses, and benefits are usually not
clear in advance.

4. Look and listen around you for someone who is noticeably good at something or
consistently exhibits a pleasant or useful attitude, and model that. This may be a
particularly useful option, Although consistent attitudes typically generalize widely,
they can be fairly simple in structure/process. There are plenty of attitudes the world
could use more of (gratitude, appreciation, tenacity, friendliness, tolerance, love,
respect, connection, equality) and plenty of attitudes the world could use less of
(scorn, hatred, meanness, superiority, inferiority, coercion/manipulation, imposition,
distance, grouchiness, etc.). You can think of people in your life whose attitude you
particularly like or dislike, and model that. I got interested in modeling self-concept
by my dislike of pompous people whose self-esteem was too high!

5. Notice the universal form of an individual solution: When a client presents you with a
difficulty and you find a solution process that works for them, chunk up to a more
generalized form, and apply the solution to others. This is how Connirae modeled a
number of processes: Self Healing, Core Transformation, Parental Timeline
Reimprinting, Timeline Recoding, and Naturally Slender Eating.

6. M o d e l a useful chang e that s o m e o n e m a d e spontaneously. Find out the characteristics

of before and after, and h o w t h e transition was made. I have rediscovered the Swish
Pattern, Content Reframing a n d Change History a n u m b e r of times doing this.
Although it did not result in a n e w pattern, it was a wonderful w a y to gain experience
and flex my modelin g m u s c l e s .

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 7. Model a skill of your own that other people have commented on, but you don't know
clearly how you do. Ask someone who doesn't have this skill, and wants it, to gather
information about it as their project. Since it is so natural to you, there will be many
aspects that will be totally unconscious and presupposed, and someone else asking
questions from a perspective of not being able to do it will be likely make them
obvious, and tease them out.

C. How to Proceed
1. Contrast
Some kind of contrast will be extremely useful in helping you zero in on the crucial
distinctions operating. Whenever possible make everything the same except the
presence or absence of what you are modeling.
a. You can compare the same person before and after they made a change
whether spontaneous or deliberate.
b. You can compare two recent experiences in the same person when they did,
and didn't, have the skill or quality you are modeling.
c. You can compare two people, one of whom has it and the other doesn't.

2. Selecting a counterexample
If you are modeling a problem state, for example, you don't want to select any
counterexample. You need a counterexample that has all the features described for
the problem state except that the person's response is useful and life-affirming. This
will be an immense help in disregarding all the elements in the two experiences that
are the same, and are irrelevant to success/failure. However, later you may need to go
back and identify other supporting elements that are necessary, but not sufficient, and
since they were present in both experiences you disregarded them.

3. Characterizing the experience and its counterexample

What are the essential features of the states you are modeling? What over all strategy
sequence does the person go through? Then chunk down to the smaller steps, and
characterize them using any and all NLP distinctions and methodologies you have
learned. Among the ones that are usually very useful are:
Rep. Systems Motivation
Strategies (sequence) Attitude
T.O.T.E. (Test, Operate, Test, Exit), or Criteria
G.E.O. (Goal, Evidence, Operation) Attentional Shifts: self/ other
Presuppositions/Beliefs Content / Context
Submodalities
Meta-program Sorting
State/Physiology/Anchoring
"Parts"
Perceptual Position
4. Content: Knowledge/Skills
Most of the distinctions above are pure process differences and do not contain
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 specific content. However, most real-world skills require knowledge of content. A
geologist needs to know about rocks, chemistry, physics, etc., and a negotiator may
need to know about corporate structure, contracts, interest rates, time to develop a
product, etc. These content-area skills are essential for the good judgement required
in carrying out the process distinctions in your modeling. These are often overlooked
in the focus on process, and need to be included as a part of your modeling. For
instance, an editor needs to know the letters of the alphabet, and how to read and
speak the language involved. Even if it seems totally obvious to you, include required
content areas in your modeling description.

5. Designing a Transition
When you have characterized the differences between the problem state and the
desired state, this will usually suggest what changes are required to get from the
problem state to the desired state. How can you design a sequence of changes to make
the transition smooth, efficient, and effective? Keep in mind that a given set of
changes may be very difficult when made in one sequence, and very easy when done
in a different order. If there are a number of shifts to be made, decide which will
probably be easier or more comfortable to make first, and then experiment to find out
the best sequence of these shifts. Modeling someone who spontaneously went through
a transition successfully will provide one effective sequence, but there is no guarantee
that it is an optimal sequence.
At this point you should have an outline of a model of how to achieve the desired
outcome. It is probably missing some distinctions and there will be certain contexts
where it won't work, but it will work in at least some cases.

6. Testing and Refining

Your Model Some refining can be done conceptually, but trying out the model with
yourself and others is the best way to learn how it can be improved. By trying out
your model with additional clients, you can discover additional useful features.
a. Congruency. Try out your model with yourself. What problems could occur?
How can you modify your process so these problems are excluded? Are all the
positive functions of the problem state preserved? For example, if someone
feels comfortable while public speaking by negatively hallucinating the
audience, this will interfere majorly with a lively, connected presentation. An
alternative way of feeling comfortable will be much more useful. Are there
any supporting elements, or processes, reframes or preframes, etc., that you
can add that would make this process even more positive, attractive, and
beneficial for the person?

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 b. Streamlining. The process you modeled from the counterexample or
exceptional model may have steps or aspects that are redundant or
superfluous, and may even interfere with the desired outcome. Is there
anything you can leave out, yet still get the desired results? Perhaps someone
repeats a question inside, or shifts posture, etc., and this only delays the
response.

c. Amplifying. How can you add to the process to make it more robust and
enduring? This is best discovered by noticing exactly where the process fails
with specific clients, and what you have to change to make it work. By
building this into the process you can extend the range of successful
applications. For instance, the phobia cure will not work well with some
people because of postural anchors that prevent full dissociation. Perceptual
position misalignment can also interfere. Adding these elements in, either as
an earlier step in the process, or as "troubleshooting" followups can make the
phobia cure work successfully with a much wider range of people. Sometimes
the process can be amplified by changing the sequence of states, or by
changing the tempo of the sequence.

7. At this point it can be extremely useful to compare your model of an exceptional

skill with:
a. Someone who is only moderately skilled, to gain more understanding of the
relative contribution of individual components to the overall ability, and to
highlight aspects that may interfere, or that were not obvious in your previous
modeling.

b. Someone else who is also exceptionally skilled, to learn different ways to do a

particular component of a process, and/or to learn additional supporting
elements that your first model never learned- and that you can teach them to
improve their performance even more. This potential improvement can be a
useful incentive to offer a highly skilled person to interest him/her in
participating in your modeling project. Another incentive is that when you are
successful, they will have an explicit model that they can teach to clients or
associates, to their benefit.

c. Special cases. Some clients will need more than a small adjustment to deal
with objections, concerns, problems, or unique aspects. Often you can simply
add a "standard" step that checks for ecology or reframes common objections,
so that the model can be successfully applied to a wider range of clients
without further modification. Refining could theoretically go on forever.
Typically when you have experience with 20 or 30 clients, you will have
encountered most of the variations that exist.

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 One way to speed up this refining process is to meet with a group of people
and run them all through the process at once, with explicit directions to please
report any and all concerns, hesitations, objections, or difficulties to you so
that you can learn about them and build solutions into your model. (A tape
recorder will help you get all this information quickly, and you can review it
all later.)

Modeling, is the basis for the continuing development and progress in any field. Physics
began over 250 years ago; NLP only 25. It's a nice beginning, but so much more must lie
ahead.

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Your Modeling Project - Lara Ewing
Your Modeling Project will be conducted in four phases: Preparation, Modeling
interviews, Demonstration of Proficiency, and Follow-up/Evaluation.

Preparation
The first step in your modeling project will be to target a skill/proficiency/useful
response/past change to model. Many people choose to model someone who has
experienced a profound change in their past, spontaneously. We suggest that you choose
your topic with certain criteria in mind:

• Passion
Think of your personal mission. What attributes, qualities or characteristics will
assist you to live your mission more fully?

What characteristics attract you in others? Examples: the ability to put people at
ease, "mechanical mind" - a skill in taking things apart and putting them back
together, hanging onto a vision in the face of obstacles, the ability to laugh at
oneself, or feeling comfortable with young children.
You might model something that would accelerate your personal growth in some
way. A "Type A" hard-driving personality might choose to model "stopping to
smell the flowers."

Make sure that when you think of your selected topic, your response is a
congruent and compelling "Yes!"

• Clarity
Be precise in stating your objective. Your project goal should be:
stated in the positive,
supported with sensory-specific evidence,
- behaviorally demonstrable to yourself and others,
narrow in scope, and
independent of content, for the most part, or based on content with which
you are familiar.

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Examples:
"Mechanical mind"
Evidence - I will demonstrate the ability to take apart a simple machine, for example a
toaster, and:
• identify the electrical vs. mechanical components,
• understand each part's function and how it fits together,
• repair simple problems, for example, a broken wire or a spring in the "pop-up"
mechanism, and
• put it back together so that it works.
• stretch - I could teach someone else how to do it.

Laughing at Myself
Evidence - I would see a humorous side of my own behavior and responses at least once
a day.

This would include:

INTERNAL EVIDENCE
• an automatically chained [series of] states between embarrassment and
amusement,
• an ability to put the incident in perspective in time,
• the choice of shifting perceptual position, representational system and
submodalities in order to access the preferred state,
• a warm, generous, kinesthetic sense of appreciation of myself in the humorous
state, beginning in the center of my body and spreading outward, and
• I would see/hear/feel a humorous representation of myself at least twice a day.

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
• other people would notice and comment on my "lightening up" at least twice
within a one-week period,
• others would invite me to participate in a social activity at least once each
weekend of this training (person initiating the invitation must be outside the group
of those who know I'm using the invitation for evidence).
• I would invite others to laugh with me about myself two or three times a day, and
they would do so at least 2 out of 3 times I try.

Or your external evidence might be based on a survey:

• with my Assistant, I will design a survey to test for my progress.

Five participants will be chosen at random and invited to participate in the survey.
"Before" Interviews will take p l a c e within the first two weekends of the training, and
"After" interviews will take place before the last w e e k e n d of the training.

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 The interviewer (who will not know the nature of my project) will ask the interviewee to
describe my personality. There will be at least 7 scales ("Rate Jim from 1-5, 5 being
high") on the survey, most unrelated to my project. One scale will measure the spectrum
"Too serious" to "Good sense of humor."

We should notice significant measurable differences (at least 2 pts. on the 5-pt. scale
moving in the direction of my outcome) before and after the modeling project. The
adjectives used to describe me in the "before" and "after" surveys will demonstrate that I
seem "lighter". We will evaluate them subjectively to determine whether I met my goal.

Notice how much longer and more detailed the evidence list is for the more internal
ability. To make it testable, we need external as well as internal evidence for your skill.
There should be little or no ambiguity about whether you succeeded at the end of your
project. And, by the way, whether or not you succeed in terms of the objective criteria
you specify, you will almost surely have succeeded at the goal of the Modeling Project -
learning.

You will work with your Assistant to design the outcome and evidence for your project.
You may only start on the Modeling process when your Assistant is satisfied that you
have a well-formed objective.

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©1998 - 2003 NLP Comprehensive
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Evergreen, CO 80437
The Modeling Interviews
You may approach your modeling project in any way you choose. Depending on the skill
or response that you have chosen to model, your methods may differ from other
Modelers. The approach outlined here is taken from a modeling project for a corporate
client. In that context the Modeler is limited in the way she can approach the Model. For
example, explicitly using Deep Trance Identification with the Model would not be
appropriate.

First Interview - the GEO (Capability and Behavior Levels)

1. Establish rapport and inspire your Model to participate (state elicitation).

2. Describe your project goal and the evidence you will use to evaluate your
success.

Build the framework for your project by getting input from your Model:

"Do you agree that you are a Model for the skill I chosen to model?"
If not, you may still choose to use that person for your Model, if in your judgment
they meet your criteria. The Model's perspective on this may contain useful
information
(beliefs, criteria).

"What comments do you have on my outcome and evidence? Are these criteria that
you would use? If not, how would your criteria differ?"

3 . M o d e l the G E O .
Begin with the internal sequence : the strategy and submodalities your Model uses in
processing information to achiev e the desired result.

H o w does the M o d e l r e p r e s e n t the goal?

What evidence does she use to know it's been achieved?
A n d then - w h a t d o e s she do to achieve it?

Some questions that m a y be useful:

"Think of the last time you d i d X . " (Associate her in that m o m e n t )
" W h a t is the first m o m e n t t h a t you are aware of X happening/beginning? "
"What are the cues that i t ' s t i m e to do X ? " or " H o w do y o u k n o w w h e n to start?"
" W h a t do you do first?" " A n d then? " " A n d t h e n ? " (calibrating to non-verbals such as
accessing cues as well as v e r b al descriptions).
" H o w do you k n o w w h e n to [take the next step]?"
" H o w do you k n o w w h e n y o u are finished?"
N o w ask about the external b e h a v i o r s involved in the skill:
"What action steps do you t a k e ? " "And t h e n ? " " A n d t h e n ? "

©1998 Lara Ewing Appendix C - Page 16

©1998 - 2003 NLP Comprehensive
PO Box 927
Evergreen, CO 80437
 Of course, there are m a n y other questions you can ask. It helps to stay very f o c u s e d
on your objective, w h i c h is to understand the exact sequence your Model uses to
achieve the goal.

4. Backtrack the sequence y o u have discovered, verifying it with the Model.

An e x a m p l e: Strategy for incorporating feedback immediately:
"So [1] first you hear the other person m a k e a suggestion. Y o u see a picture of
yourself doing the behavior they suggested. This picture is up and to the right in
your visual field, about here and about this large [gesture to demonstrate]. T h e
picture is clear, bright and colorful. Y o u see yourself in the picture from a
distance of about ten feet, in profile. It has a quick tempo.

[2] T h e n you see a picture of yourself doing it the w a y you do it now. Most of the
submodalities are the same, except the location. This picture is about three inches
to the left of the other one. Y o u look back and forth between the two pictures,
selecting elements that you like. You talk to yourself as you compare them,
saying things like, ' H e ' s right about that. Y o u look better when you do it that
way,' or ' Y e s , I think I could do that.'

[3] Y o u then create a third picture, larger, higher and even more to the right,
w h i c h incorporates the best elements of the other two pictures. When it 'looks
right' it gets a small, almost unnoticeable element of sparkle and moves in closer,
to about here [gesture].

[4] T h e n you see the picture from your w i f e ' s eyes and ask yourself (as your
wife) h o w you like h i m doing that. If i t ' s affirmative, you proceed. If she d o e s n ' t
like it, you chang e the picture until she does.

[5] T h e n you get a good feeling about it in the m i d d l e of your body, a lightness
and a little pull forward.

[6] Y o u step into the picture, noticing h o w it feels - familiar, enjoyable, authentic.
If it meets those tests, you go ahead and begin to use the new choices."

Almost by definition, the targeted skill or response will probably be more an unconscious
than conscious process for your M o d e l . Be prepared to dig for the information. It m a y be
useful to provide a m e n u , "Is it that you do... or do y o u . . . ? " Sometimes the information
becomes available w h e n you provide something for t h e m to compare.

Also identify the places in the process in which content knowledg e makes a difference.
For example, if the M o d e l is a business consultant, does he u s e a content framework or
template for analyzing the client's problem? A consultant w ho appraises businesses for
sale m a y have certain guidelines a b o u t valuation: "In this industry, the formula is 3 times
the average profit for the last 5 y e a r s , " Process understanding is only part of the M o d e l ' s
competence in this situation.

©1998 Lara Ewing Appendix C - Page 17

©1998 - 2003 NLP Comprehensive
PO Box 927
Evergreen, CO 80437
Second Interview - Model of the World
In this interview, your target is more global. You'll want to learn more about the internal
context surrounding the targeted skill. Gather information about how the skill fits into the
Model's Model of the World. The higher Neurological Levels will serve as useful
guidelines in this process. Explore these questions at a minimum:

SPIRIT How does the Model conceive of her larger connection in the Universe?
What spiritual connections are present in the skill?
Does she feel guided or connected to a force outside herself in this
context? How?

IDENTITY Is there something unique or unusual about the Model that contributes to
this ability?
What role do they play with others as they do the skill?

BELIEFS What makes this behavior possible?

Are there limits to it, internal or external?
What makes it worthwhile?
How does it fit in with their values?
What is important to them about this skill?
What is important about the skill?
What criteria do they use to do it/evaluate it?

Notice especially presuppositions, values, criteria, complex equivalences and cause-

effects in their descriptions of the skill and the context in which they use the skill.

CAPABILITY/BEHAVIOR/ENVIRONMENT
Gather more detail and clean up any missing or unclear information from
your first (GEO) interview with your Model.

©1998 Lara Ewing Appendix C - Page 18

©1998 - 2003 NLP Comprehensive
PO Box 927
Evergreen, CO 80437
 Identify the relevant Meta-Programs in your Model's MOW
Content People
Things
Activities
Information
Place

Perceptual Position Self

Other
Observer

Time Frame Past

Present
Future

Scope General
Natural
Specific

You can ask these questions directly. The quality of the information is sometimes higher,
though, if you gather this information conversationally (engaging less of the Model's
conscious attention). Get the Model to talk about the skill, about themselves as they do it,
about the differences between themselves and those who are unable to do it. Later you
can analyze the data you gathered for each of the categories you want to describe.

If it's available, some people find it helpful to record the modeling sessions on tape. It
frees the Modeler's conscious mind to attend to the Model, knowing that they can go
back through the conversation on tape sorting for other categories. Some categories will
be highly relevant, others irrelevant. Usually the most important ones emerge naturally in
conversation. You can always ask later about any categories you miss.

After this interview, you'll organize the information you've gathered, starting with your
understanding of the GEO, then sorting the Model of the World information for the parts
that are relevant (support the skill/response you're modeling) or irrelevant (don't support
it in any meaningful way). At this point, you should have tried the GEO and have
sufficient experience in Second Position with your Model to know what aspects of the
skill you have modeled and what aspects remain. The remaining aspects and any
clarification you need are the subject for your Third Interview, if you need one.

©1998 Lara Ewing Appendix C - Page 19

©1998 - 2003 NLP Comprehensive
PO Box 927
Evergreen, CO 80437
Demonstration of Proficiency
This is the session in which you demonstrate your own proficiency in the Model's skill.
Because the nature of the projects will differ widely, these sessions will be diverse. If
your project centered around developing instant rapport with strangers, you, your
Assistant and any other observers may need to hold the Demonstration in a public place.
If your target was to model a Yoga position, it could be held in the training room. We
encourage you to deliver your Demonstration to at least 3 people - your Assistant
(required), the Model, and at least one person who has not been involved in your project.

Your Demonstration should include:

• a behavioral demonstration of the skill. Simply do it.
• an explication of the Model's GEO and supporting Model of the World.
• You describe it in sufficient detail that your Assistant and group can replicate the
skill with some practice.
• any supporting evidence of your proficiency - survey results/tests/a completed
sculpture or business project plan, etc.
• a question and answer period.

You should plan on a minimum of an hour for your Demonstration.

Follow-up, Evaluation
This is an optional session held with your Assistant or with another participant to debrief
the Modeling Project. Think of it as an opportunity for tape-editing.
What went well?
What would you do the same way over again?
What obstacles did you encounter, expected or unexpected?
How did you handle them?
What are some other ways you might have handled them?
Were there other resources you might have called upon or used?
Did you make it more difficult than it needed to be in any way? How?
Is there anything that you wouldn't do the same way, if you had it to do over?
What surprises did you encounter?
What did you discover about yourself in this process?

©1998 Lara Ewing Appendix C - Page 20

©1998 - 2003 NLP Comprehensive
PO Box 927
Evergreen, CO 80437