See It, Hear It, Smell It, Feel It…

Can you imagine a time; a time when you felt the happiest you have ever felt? Maybe it was your wedding day, the birth of a child, being notified that you had received an unexpected award, or even sitting beside a river watching the fish come to the surface to grab bugs for dinner.

Now, as you are thinking of that time, what do you see? What colors do you see? Are they bright or dim? Are they muted or contrasty? Is the picture still or moving? How about the shape of the picture?

And as you think about that picture, what do you hear? Music, voices, the sound of nature? Are the sounds soft or loud? Close to you or far away? Which directions are the sounds coming from?

Now, still thinking about that time, are there smells? What are they? Are they subtle or strong? Sweet or sour?

This last one is important. What do you feel when you see this image? This could be an emotion or an actual kinesthetic feeling. What emotion do you feel? How strong is it? Do you feel the clothes you are wearing? Are they tight, soft, fuzzy? Do you feel something around you? Maybe a table, rocks, a hand you are holding.

I hope you tried the exercise. It is one of the many powerful tools an NLP Practitioner/Coach uses when they work with others. A great author can guide someone through this process with their words and the picture they paint for the reader. And you can create this for yourself, as the author of your life.

As I write this, I’m listening to music, and a song just came on my playlist that has so many feels with it. I can still see The Fray singing it, at the MGM in Vegas as the opener for Dave Matthews. I was wearing a cute pair of sandals that kept sticking to the beer-soaked floor as I danced around. I can also feel hurt with this song. I won’t go into details regarding the hurt but I will tell you this is the last concert I attended with my husband who would become an ex-husband within the year.

So, why did I just give you a glimpse into that tidbit? It reminds me of how our unconscious mind works. It stores memories. Memories that may have happened and memories of things that haven’t happened. Our unconscious mind doesn’t know what has happened and what hasn’t happened. It just knows what we tell it.

Ok, if you think I am talking double talk here, hang in for a bit.

Think of that exercise I just had you go through remembering an experience you had. That was real. Now, think of a book you read, where you could see, hear and feel exactly what the author was writing. When I was a young girl, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn many times. I still can see Francie in the brick apartment building, collecting pennies and the neighborhood she lived in.

I haven’t been to Brooklyn.

But I have a very concrete picture of what it must look, smell, and sound like. (I may be surprised by some of this, when I visit, as the story was set in the early 20th century!)

You now know that you have stored memories that you have experienced, and you have stored memories that you haven’t experienced. What if I told you that you can create these memories even before they occur? Would you say I’m crazy?

Or are you interested in learning how?

During an NLP training or coaching session, there are many times you will use visualization. One very specific time is during a goal setting session. You can create the “story” around the event, the exact minute you know when you have achieved your goal. When you do that, since your unconscious mind does not know time, your unconscious mind just assumes that it has already happened, because you have written the story. You have told your unconscious mind what it will feel like, how you will know you achieved it, what you were wearing, who was there, etc.

Want to give this a go, but feel like you need someone to walk you through it? Want to know how to assist your coaching clients to get to this point? Want to understand how your unconscious mind works?

April 22-25 I will cover this and much more in my NLP Practitioners Workshop. Hit me up for more information or to answer questions. There are still a few spots left and I can see you sitting in one of them.