I have just returned from a week of self discovery with a great bunch of like-minded folk. We were well and truly put though our paces learning more sophisticated NLP techniques and applying that which we already knew.
Some of this produced some very reassuring results and other exercises helped me to re-evaluate many deep rooted limiting beliefs of my own. Believe you me – this stuff is powerful.
Yesterday was the final day of the week’s discoveries.
You may have heard me mention Time-Line Therapy in previous blog posts and yesterday I had the opportunity of being able to enjoy its benefits again.
What is Time-Line Therapy?
This is a process whereby we are able to access our unconscious mind and release ourselves from negative emotions ( and limiting beliefs ) that are linked to our past experiences. The negative emotions are addressed in the order of Anger, Sadness, Fear, Hurt and Guilt.
It’s worth mentioning that our unconscious mind cleverly stores all our emotions which it will use for future reference. Invariably these pieces of information are stored using our senses : as pictures, smells, sounds or feelings; and this is how we retrieve the information deep from our unconscious. All similar emotions are stored one after the other, in what we call gestalts – which are like strings of pearls. What NLP aims to do is identify the very first instance of the negative emotion and remove it. Once the root cause ( the first pearl if you like ) has been taken off the end then all the other occurrences are free to fall away.
If you understand that the first instance of each negative emotion will have happened before our living memory ( a new born baby cries right? ) – it’s easy to understand that we are addressing events that we cannot remember, reinforcing the fact that this is painless, totally safe and ( as I was reminded yesterday ) rather enjoyable.
Even though we want to remove the negative feelings however, it’s important that we retain all that we have learned – so that we are better equipped to deal with future struggles. This is where the fun starts and where we inevitably receive our own lightbulb moments.
What happens in TimeLine Therapy?
Let me explain my session :
I was asked to relax, so I threw my feet up on the sofa; and I was gently guided through what I tend to describe as a flight over my timeline ( which is a line I visualise in my mind’s eye of my story so far. )
Note : our rational mind tends to be suspicious of things we don’t quite understand. So we are asked to set aside our critical mind ( we do this every time we go to the movies and watch something like Superman – men can’t fly and there’s no such thing as Kryptonite … catch my drift? )
It is important to say the first thing that comes into our heads – without considering what it means. This illustrates that we are listening to the unconscious part of our mind rather than the conscious part.
Note : that these deductions come from me – with absolutely no prompting from the coach – and it can take a while. Together we have to work a bit to retrieve this information as the unconscious mind is sometimes reluctant to let go of what it instinctively knows. But when the light suddenly dawns it is very liberating.
So here is my experience :
I pictured a swordfish – with a very long pointy nose and beside this was a suit or armour.
The digging bit : What I always tend to do, is to try and protect myself. Not only from bad things happening and negative people, but also from showing my weaknesses ( the chinks in my armour. ) But it is inevitable that we will get hurt – it’s part of life.
My learning? That actually it is OK to let my guard down a bit and to let people in. It’s ok to show my vulnerability and by opening up to people I can often receive support rather than hurt. I don’t have to be invincible all the time.
The important thing to grasp here – is that this might seem very obvious advice – but I will not change my behaviour unless my unconscious mind acknowledges the learning and buys into it.
I had many images throughout my Time-Line flight; they ranged from a Cadbury’s flake to a maple leaf; a dripping ice-cream with raspberry sauce and sprinkles to a new born baby, also I imagined a forest of trees followed by a bowl of Heinz tomato soup. However, it’s not all pictures; I sensed cold and many random words popped into my head as well. All of these represented ( for me ) information and learnings embedded in my unconscious mind.
You see, NLP presupposes that each of us have the resources within us to reach our own decisions and to come to the conclusions that are best for us; it just takes a bit of detective work to dig it out.
The last image I shall share is that of a small goldfish going around and around in circles in his bowl.
The digging bit : Don’t forget, that this little chap, according to experts has a 4 second memory.
My learning? We really cannot revisit the past – and the future is always beyond our reach. We can only, realistically, be in the present. We can only do our best and savour today – live for the moment, right now.
How wonderful that Time-Line Therapy can help us with this – by removing the negativity from the past and retaining the positives. It enables us to appreciate what we have right now and helps us to equip ourselves better for the brighter future – whatever that might hold.
Do you want to ditch the negativity from your past? Then give me a call – maybe I can help.
Thank you
Cai’s ultimate driver is to empower individuals to make the necessary changes, through Personal Breakthrough Sessions and Performance Coaching; using recognised methods from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and TimeLine Therapy & Hypnosis.
For more information please contact Cai : enquiries@themindmodel.co.uk or call 02891853478.
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