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Human Resource Development (HRM-627)
VU
Lesson 12
NEURO-LINGUISTIC-PROGRAMMING
Ourexperience of the world is created by gathering information through the use of our five senses.However,
each of us tends to develop a favorite mode of focus, or a modality, as it is oftencalled. Some people aremore
impacted,for example, by what they see;their visual system tends to be more dominant. Forothers, sounds are
the trigger for the greatest of life's experiences, while forothers, feelings are the foundation.
Evenwithin each of these modes of experience, though, thereare special elements of pictures, sounds, or other
sensationsthat can be changed in order to increase or decrease the intensity of our experience. These
foundational ingredients are called sub modalities. Forexample, you can make a picture in our mind andthen
takeany aspect of that image (a sub modality), and change it to change your feelings about it. You canbrighten
the picture, immediately changing the amount of intensity you feel about the experience. This is known as a
changingsub modality. Probably the greatest expert in sub modalities is Richard Bandler, co ­ founder of
Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Thelineage of experts on this datesback to the foundational work on he five
senses done by Aristotle, which categorizes perception models.
Youcan radically raise or loweryour intensity the feeling about anything by manipulating sub modalities.They
affect how you feel about virtually anything, whether you feel joy,frustration, wonder, or despair.
Understanding them enables you to not onlychange how you feel about any experience in your life,but to
change what it means to you andthus what you can do aboutit.
One image I've found very useful is to think of sub modalities as the grocery store UPC barcodes, those
clusters of little black lines thathave replaced price tags in just about every supermarketyou patronize today.
Thecodes look insignificant, yet when pulled across the checkoutscanner, they tell the computer what the item
is,how much it costs, howits sale affects the inventory, and so on. Submodalities work the sameway. When
pulledacross the scanner of the computer we call the brain, they tell the brain what this thing is, how to feel
about it, and what to do. Youhave your own barcodes, and there is a list of them coming up alone with
question to ask to determine which of them you use.
Forexample, if you tend to focus upon you visualmodalities, the amount of enjoyment youcan get from a
particular memory is probably a direct consequence of the sub modalities of size,color, brightness,distance,
and amount of movement in the visual imageyou've made of it. If yourepresent it to yourself withauditory
submodalities, then how you feel depends on the volume, tempo, pitch,tonality, and other suchfactors you
attach to it. For example, in orderfor some people to feel motivated, they have to tune in a certain channelfirst
if their favorite channel is visual, then focusing on the visual elements of the situation gives them more
emotionalintensity about it. Forother people it's auditory or kinesthetic channels. And for some, the best
strategy works like a combination lock. First the visual lock has to be aligned, then the auditory,then the
kinesthetic. All three dials have to be lined up in the right placeand the right order for the vault to open.
Onceyour aware f this, you'llrealize that people areconstantly using words in their day­to­day language to tell
youwhich system and whichsub modalities they aretuning in. Listen to the ways they describe their
experience,and take it literally. (Forexample, in the last twosentences I used the terms `tuning in' and `listen'­
clearlythese are auditoryexamples.)
Howmany times have youheard someone say,' I can't picture doing that'? They're tellingyou what the
problemis: If they did picture doingit, they'd go into statewhere they'd feel like they could make it happen.
Someonemay have once said to you,' your blowing things out of proportion.' If you're reallyupset, they may
be right. You may be takingimages in your mind and making them much bigger, which tends to intensify the
experience. If someone says,' this is weighing heavily upon me.' You canassist them by helping them feel
lighterabout the situation and thereby get them in a better state to deal withit. If someone says, `I'm just
tuningyou guys out.' You'vegot to tune them back in so the canchange states. Ourability to changethe
way we feel depends upon ourability to change our sub modalities. We must learn to take control of the
variouselements with which we represent experiences andchange them in ways thatsupport our outcomes.
Forexample, have you everfound yourself saying youneed to `get distance' from a problem? I'd like youtry
something, if you would. Think of a situation that is challengingyou currently. Make a picture of it in your
mind,and then imagine pushing that picture farther andfarther away from yourself. Stand above it andlook
downupon the problem with a newperspective. What happens to your emotional intensity?For most people,
it drops. What if the imagebecomes dimmer or smaller? Nowtake picture of the problem andmake it bigger,
brighter,and closer. For most people, this intensifies it. Push it backout and watch the sun melt it. A simple
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Human Resource Development (HRM-627)
VU
change in any one of these elements is life changing the ingredients in a recipe. They're definitely going to alter
what you finally experience in your body.
Remember,how you feel about things is instantly changed by a shift of submodalities. For example,think of
somethingthat happened yesterday.Just for a moment, picture thatexperience. Take the image of this memory
andput it behind you. Graduallypush it back until itsmiles behind you, a tiny,dim dot far off in the darkness.
Does it feel like it happened yesterday, or a long time ago? If the memory is great, bring it back.Otherwise,
leave it there! Who needs to focus on this memory? By contrast, you'vehad some incrediblywonderful
experiences in your life.
Think of one right now, onethat happened a long time ago. Recall the imagery of that experience. Bring it
forward;put it in front of you. Make it big, bright, and colorful; make it three ­ dimensional. Stepinto your
body as you were then and feel that experience right now as if you were there. Does it feel like it happened a
long time ago, or is it something you're enjoying right now? Yousee, even your experience of time can be
changed by changing submodalities.
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