Eye Movements are a commonly attributed to NLP and there is a great model that shares what it can mean when the eyes move in certain directions. As with all NLP models, this is a generalisation. What that means is that generally it will be true, but it won’t be true all of the time. Keep reading to discover more about how NLP puts meaning to the micro-movements of the eyes.
NLP is about noticing patterns. So, in NLP, we are not so much interested in content as in process. Often this can be an interesting transition to make. The first step is to pay attention to the process of your interactions with others — listen to the form, watch the form, feel the form, and not get involved in the content. We’re interested in how things are done, and not necessarily why or with specific details regarding content.
Of course, the next question then, is how specifically do you “listen to the form, watch the form, feel the form,” and not get involved in the content? The “modalities” are one way of categorising exactly what a person does inside their head as they think. They are a way or a model for the process that a person does in their head as they make up an Internal Representation. In the process of creating NLP, Bandler and Grinder discovered that by looking at someone’s eyes, you could tell how they were thinking. Not what they were thinking, but how. You could tell what they were doing inside their heads.
Based on observations by the original researchers, when people look up, they’re visualising. When they look horizontally to the left and right, they’re either remembering or constructing sounds. When they look downward and to our left, they’re accessing their feelings. And when they look downward and to our right, they’re talking to themselves (Auditory digital).
*Note: The chart above is for a normally organised right-handed person. Many left-handed people and some ambidextrous people will have eye movements that are reversed.
Here is more of an explanation about what each of the eye movements mean.
Vr: Visual Remembered
(Visual Recall) — Seeing images from memory, recalling things you have seen before.
Vc: Visual Constructed
(Visual Created) — Images of things that you have never seen before. When you are making it up in their head, you are using Visual Constructed. (NOTE: A small percentage of people access visual modalities by defocusing their eyes. When this happens, the eyes will usually stay in the centre.)
Ar: Auditory Remembered
(Auditory Recall) — When you remember sounds or voices that you’ve heard before or things that you’ve said to yourself before.
Ac: Auditory Constructed
(Auditory Created) — Making up sounds that you’ve not heard before. For example
K: Kinesthetic
(Feelings, Sense of touch) — You generally look in this direction when you’re accessing your feelings, or recall the physical feeling of touching something.
Ad: Auditory Digital
(Talking to Yourself) — This is where your eyes move when you’re having internal dialogue.
Typically, every time we access information, we move our eyes in that particular direction which facilitates using that part of our neurology. The mind and body are absolutely interconnected, so each time we access our visual memory, for example, we move our eyes upward and to our left. (If you’re watching someone access visual memory, you will see them move their eyes upward and to your right.)
If you would like more information about NLP Eye Movements then drop us an email or give us a call. We also have a handy list of questions that you can ask to test and discover the eye movements with a partner. Contact Lloyd on lloyd@confidentfuture.com.au for more information.
Have you been looking for more information about Time Line Therapy (R) and how you can use the Time Line TherapyTM Techniques? Recently I recorded a 10 minute video to introduce the basics of Time Line Therapy (R). Let me know what you think, leave a comment and Like the video on YouTube if you enjoy it
This video shares how to create goals in your future that are S.M.A.R.T. and more likely to succeed. Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy this 14 minute discussion about how to improve how you write your goals. Keep your ears open for the take home exercise towards the end.
If you enjoyed this video and you’re based in Perth then come along and join us for our next Meetup event. For full details and to RSVP check out our full list of events here: http://www.meetup.com/Perth-NLP-Practice-Group/
Have you ever noticed how DVD Players are getting more and more complicated lately? When I go to visit my friends it has gotten to the point that some of my friends don’t have any idea of how to operate their DVD Player themselves. They rely on help from their partner to get it setup to the point where they can just press ‘play’. The nice thing about DVD Players though is that if you ever get really *stuck* you can get the manual out and get to the bottom of it.
The mind is complicated too. But there is no instruction manual! Lots of people rely on others to ‘press their buttons’ and cheer them up when they are sad, motivate them when they are feeling stuck and keep them going in the right direction. NLP is the closest thing I have found to being an instruction manual for the mind. It contains a set of instructions that, when I follow them, have me feel how I want to feel. They let me do what I want to do and even better than that I can help others with their mind too if they want me to.
If you want to have full control over your mind then I’m very much in favour of learning NLP through a proper Practitioner training (They are normally 7 days). The next best thing is attending practice groups each month or finding some books on the topic. I’m running a Practitioner Course this November and I am looking for people in Perth (or that can travel to Perth) who would benefit from learning how to press their own buttons. Now, as you read this you will know whether this is something for you but what I am equally interested in is whether you think this would be of interest to the people that you know. Please help me spread the word because it is really important to me to help others learn to take charge of their minds!
You can signup for this course in November at any time but there is a discount available to those who are reading this article. And as soon as you have paid your a deposit I get to post you a pre-study kit full of great information to have you learning about NLP immediately. The pre-study kit contains three of the best books about NLP that are available, three DVDs introducing NLP, Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy along with a comprehensive Reference Manual.
This course is going to be a real learning sensation. You’ll not only learn the instruction manual to your mind but you will ALSO experience these techniques for yourself over the 7 days. That means you will come out the end of this course as a lighter, happier and more motivated person. I appreciate some people will want further details and you can read them here.
To get started or for more information please email me directly: lloyd@confidentfuture.com.au
Or give me a call: 0427 384 547
Or chat with me on Skype if you prefer: lloydjohnson
Have you ever been in a situation where someone is angry? Like, not just a little bit angry but really angry? While human instinct is normally to get ready to fight or run for the hills there are other options available to us too. Recently I was emailed by a reader of this blog who had to write an assignment on dealing with unreasonably angry customers or co-workers and it has inspired this post today. These are the four techniques for using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to deal with angry customers:
Get Angrier Than Them
This technique is a great quick way to diffuse a difficult situation. How it works is you allow yourself to feel much, much, much more angry than the other person about the situation which they are angry about. You will reach a point where they will become uncomfortable with how angry you are about the situation and they will start to try and convince you that actually everything is okay.
I experienced this many years ago, well before I knew about NLP, when I was working in a Retail Electronics Store. I had sold a big wall clock to a lovely man who had taken it home only to find that I hadn’t sold him the batteries he needed to go with it. He then drove back to the store, hunted me down and decided to angrily share with me how I had ruined his Saturday by wasting his precious time, the extra cost of fuel, the inconvenience etc. etc. etc! At first it took me off guard but then I started to get really angry too. But I directed the anger at myself and started saying things like, “I can’t believe I could be so hopeless, what was I thinking being so careless? What a huge problem I had caused for you and there is nothing I can do to repay you and I feel just TERRIBLE.” Suddenly, something peculiar happened. The man totally flipped his emotional state and started saying to me, “It’s okay, you didn’t do it on purpose. You probably sell loads of products, how were you to know this one didn’t have batteries” and so on, and so on. I calmed myself down, we found him the batteries and the situation was nicely resolved leaving a happy customer and without needing to involve my Manager.
Pacing and Leading
This technique has many versions but in this context I refer to pacing and leading the emotional state of the other person. To use this successfully you will need to be able to regulate how you feel from moment to moment. You start by pacing the angry customer by getting angry and worked up yourself. Once you have started to pace their emotional state you can allow yourself to calm down again they will often calm down with you.
Several years ago I used to own a beautiful fast black ute. It went like a dream. On one occasion I took a corner at some traffic lights a little bit fast and, as the tray of the ute was empty, the back of the ute fish tailed slightly out of control. I kept control of the vehicle just fine and continued driving home only to be pulled over a few minutes later by the angriest traffic cop I have ever met. He pulled me over, approached my drivers side window and before I wound the window down I could already see the veins popping out of his neck from how angry he was feeling. “Oh no,” I remember thinking to myself. I thought, this is going to take a bit of quick thinking on my part so I decided to do my best to Pace and Lead this cop. The window wasn’t even half way down when he started shouting at me, “Did I know what I was doing? Did I have any idea how dangerous my driving had been?” so, as with the previous example, I started getting angry with myself. “What on earth was I thinking? I can’t believe myself! I know what the ute is like without a load, what on earth was I doing taking the corner so quickly?” and before I knew it both the cop and I were in a similar emotional state. And then I paused and took a deep breath in and started to slow down the speed I was talking. I started to make myself feel more calm and relaxed. As I did I noticed the traffic cop’s neck started to show signs of relaxation too. Before I knew it we were talking much more casually and he allowed me to continue on my way – not even a Warning thanks to the power of Pacing and Leading.
Pattern Interrupt
A Pattern Interrupt is when you do or say something that distracts the other person from what they are thinking about or feeling. This is often done by bringing their conscious attention to something that they had previously been ignoring.
This is a nice simple technique and it will momentarily distract them from their anger. Simple examples include:
Did you realise your shoe laces are undone?
Wait…. (*point to the sky*) is that a UFO?
*start jumping up and down on the spot*
*dramatically pretend you’re about to sneeze*
You’ve successfully used this technique when you’ve distracted them from what they were thinking about in that moment.
I remember being in a Night Club and being approach by an angry (and apparently drunk) bloke who was spoiling for a fight. He came up to me with one of those standard lines, something like, “What do you think you’re looking at?” So I raised my right hand and moved it towards him in the way you would to shake hands. Without thinking he reciprocated and I started introducing myself. He lost his train of thought for a moment, stared at our hands joined together, then back at my face, then back at my hands and then he dropped my hand, turned and went back to his friends. The Pattern Interrupt had broken his state and dissolved the anger from the situation.
Confusion
This is my favourite and I originally read this in one of Derren Brown’s books. It is similar to a Pattern Interrupt and essentially it involves saying something that makes logical sense but it is totally irrelevant in the current context. The idea behind this is that when the angry person hears it and tries to make sense of it they will be left feeling confused and that confusion can replace their momentary anger.
An example of something that you could say to create confusion in a retail environment would be saying in a calm normal tone of voice:
But isn’t it interesting how the people who aren’t not watching what isn’t not going on over there haven’t yet said anything to the people they’re not thinking about calling on their mobile when they get home?
This is not one I have had the chance to use and I have my fingers crossed I don’t bump into too many angry people in the future!
In the long run…
While each of these techniques are great to dealing with someone else that is angry in the moment it won’t be much use in the long term. Anger is a strong emotion and it is important that people express it both safely and appropriately for themselves and others. It is possible using Time Line TherapyTM Techniques to totally let go of Anger in less than 30 minutes. If you are currently experiencing Anger about something, or you know someone that could do with some Anger Management assistance then point them in the direction of a NLP Coach or Time Line Therapist ASAP.
Would you like to know what makes the difference between the earning power of someone on a factory floor versus the CEO? Do you want to know how to resolve disputes like a professional negotiator? Have you ever wondered why some people are easy to talk to while with others it just seems to be disagreement after disagreement? Would you like to know what most coaches do wrong, that if they did it right, would totally transform their clients? Then you need to know about the NLP Hierarchy of Ideas.
The NLP Hierarchy of Ideas is an approach to thinking that allows you to increase your flexibility of thought. It is based on the premise that every idea exists somewhere on a broader hierarchy of ideas. At one extreme you have ideas that are very vague and abstract in nature. While on the other extreme you have ideas that are incredibly specific and exact. But this isn’t a binary spectrum with just one extreme or the other, there are almost unlimited ideas in between those two extremes and because of that you are able to take almost any concept and start thinking about it in this way. Moving through the Hierarchy of Ideas is done using either the process of Chunking Up or Chunking Down.
Before we go any further though we are going to need an example. So imagine if we were to take a fairly simple idea – let’s say the idea of a ‘koala’. Now allow me to demonstrate how this can work:
Chunking Up
The process of Chunking Up is when you move from one idea and begin to move away from that idea and towards more vague and abstract. The way to do this is to ask these questions: What is this an example of? OR For what purpose?
So to work with the example of an koala we could ask either of these questions and we would move to a more vague or abstract idea. Here are some possible responses that are all examples of Chunking Up on the idea of a koala: What is this an example of? Marsupial For what purpose? Tourist Attraction What is this an example of? Animal Note: There will *always* be more than one answer and no answer is right or wrong.
Chunking Down
The process of Chunking Down is when you move from one idea and begin to move away from that idea and towards more specific and exact details. The way to do this is to ask these questions: What is an example of this? OR For instance?
So to work with the example of an koala we could ask either of these questions and we would move to a more specific and exact idea. Here are some possible responses that are all examples of Chunking Down on the idea of a koala: What is an example of this? A koala at the local zoo For instance? A koala plush toy Note: There will *always* be more than one answer and no answer is right or wrong.
Chunking Laterally
Now that you understand how to Chunk Up and Chunk Down you can also begin to Chunk Laterally. How do you do this? It is really straight forward:
Chunk Up
Chunk Down
Congratulations, you’ve now Chunked Laterally!
Putting the Hierarchy of Ideas to Use
Having read this now you are probably wondering how this relates to what I talked about at the beginning? Increasing your earning power comes down to your ability to think up and down the Hierarchy of Ideas easily and effortlessly. The faster you can do this the better you become at what business people call ‘Thinking Outside of the Box‘. When you think about what a Board of a large organisation talks about they are discussing trends in the market, changes in the economy and abstract ideas like consumer demand – these ideas are all waaaaaay up on the Hierarchy of Ideas. If you cannot get your mind out of the nitty gritty of the specifics then it is not going to be easy for you to think strategically. On the flip side if you spend your whole time thinking up in the clouds then you won’t be very useful either. True business leaders have the flexibility of thinking to climb up and down the hierarchy on demand.
Resolving disputes also becomes easier when you understand the hierarchy of ideas. When you chunk up to broader ideas it becomes easier and easier to create agreement. Very few people disagree about ‘World Peace’ being important but there can be a lot of disagreement when you get into the specifics about how ‘World Peace’ is to be achieved. The trick with using this for negotiations is to Chunk Up until you reach agreement and then Chunk Down only as quickly as you can maintain that agreement. This technique is surprisingly simple so give it a go and enjoy the results.
And as for what most coaches do wrong… To find that one out you will need to attend our next Confident Future NLP Practitioner Training. We have our next event coming up soon so if you are interested in joining us then send me an email now, mention that you’re a reader of this blog and I will organise a special deal just for you: lloyd@confidentfuture.com.au
Are you in Perth, Western Australia and looking for a group of like minded people to practice NLP with? Have you done a Practitioner or Master Practitioner Course yet still want a chance to get more experience with the various techniques? Are you totally new to NLP, Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy and you just want to learn more about it? Then the Perth NLP Practice Group is for you!
In January 2011 we started getting together as a small group of just 3~5 members and since then we now regularly attract 7+ members. Our meetings are informal and happen on a monthly basis. It is totally free and hosted in Bull Creek, a short walk from the Murdoch Train Station. If you are reading this and you are interested then you are most welcome to join us at our next evening! For full information about the next event it is easiest to join the Perth NLP Practice Group on Facebook: » Find the Perth NLP Practice Group on Facebook
So far we have covered topics including:
Hypnosis Inductions
Chaining Anchors
Clare Graves Values Levels (Spiral Dynamics)
Parts Integration (Also known as Visual Squash)
And much, much more!
So what are you waiting for? If you are interested in NLP or Hypnosis and you live in Perth then join the Facebook group and join us for our next event!
If you have any questions or would just like to have a chat with someone before you come along then feel free to give the organisers a quick call:
Alana: 0415 879 100
Lloyd: 0427 384 547
Have you ever felt ABSOLUTELY sure that something were going to happen? Can you tell the difference between how it feels to ‘try’ and do something versus when you ‘know’ you are going to do something? This post is a story about Wendy, an inspiring woman I met while teaching in Melbourne earlier this year, what her certainty brought her and how you can harness certainty for yourself.
When I was last in Melbourne I was co-presenting a NLP Practitioner Training with Life Puzzle to a group of really motivated small business owners. One of those people was Wendy, the creator of Think for Fitness. She has a burning passion for all things related to fitness. During some of the group discussions it became clear how much respect and admiration Wendy has for Michelle Bridges, the Personal Trainer of Biggest Loser TV Fame. The week after the Training I received an email from a sporting retailer that was running a competition where the winner would be flown to Sydney for a personal training session with Michelle Bridges. I forwarded the email on and the rest is history – Wendy took massive action to meet the competition entry requirements and just yesterday she found out that she won!!! Her husband and her are soon to be boarding a plane to Sydney for a Personal Training session with one of Wendy’s role models. How awesome is that?
When I spoke to Wendy yesterday about her news it was amazing just how certain she was that she was going to win. From the moment that my email to her arrived she was 100% congruent that she was going to be the winner of this competition. She told many of her clients and friends. And most importantly she took action to enter the competition. But from the very beginning she was without a shadow of a doubt that she was going to be the one winning that competition.
This is interesting because when using the Time Line TherapyTM Techniques for goal setting one of the most crucial steps is checking how certain someone is about a goal in their future. When someone is 100% certain and congruent about their goals it makes a huge difference in terms of the likelihood of them achieving that goal. On the surface this may not make much sense but here is the thing: Any uncertainty or doubt is a signal of a limiting decision or belief in the Unconscious Mind. So if you set out to double your income, yet you’re uncertain whether that goal is even possible, it means that your Unconscious Mind is probably holding a decision or a belief that will make realising that goal hard (or maybe even impossible). If you set out to lose weight, find your ideal partner or run a marathon and there are any doubts and uncertainty… same thing!
The good news is that Time Line TherapyTM Techniques are incredibly powerful and fast at finding those limiting beliefs and decisions in your Unconscious Mind. Plus once they are discovered they can easily be let go (normally in less than 15 minutes for most decisions/beliefs). These techniques are all taught during our NLP Practitioner Certification Training, the same course Wendy was attending, or alternatively you could work with a coach trained in these techniques.
So pause for a moment: What is one of your major goals right now? And on a scale of 1 to 10 (Where 0 is how certain you feel about flying to the moon tomorrow and 10 is how certain you feel about the sun rising tomorrow) how certain are you about that goal? And if you’re answering anything less than a 10, assuming you care about achieving that goal, then when would now be a good time to make an appointment with your coach or learn these techniques for yourself? As always, I love to hear from you so feel free to drop me a Facebook message or an email: lloyd@confidentfuture.com.au
This is a light hearted post following a recent email that I thought you may like.
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without alcohol,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
Then You Are Probably…
The Family Dog!
And you probably thought I was going to get all spiritual or something!
During coaching sessions with clients, the problem of getting things done invariably raises its head at some point. Some people label themselves as procrastinators, or simply lazy, or tell themselves ‘well, I’m just disorganised’ if they only get around to starting new projects at the last minute. The truth is, you are organised, because you’re probably always doing, or not doing the same thing in the same way.
If you are having problems getting things done, change your strategy, and a good starting point is to pay attention to how you are talking to yourself. If you say to yourself, ‘I shouldn’t forget to file my tax return next Tuesday’, your brain hears ‘Forget the tax return,’ and of course you will. A client who was trying to lose weight kept telling herself ‘I mustn’t think about chocolate’, so her brain heard ‘Think about chocolate’, and she wondered why her dieting strategy wasn’t working! Try for a moment not to think of a pink elephant. What are you thinking about? I thought so!
Simply put, when you give yourself a command, do it in a way that is positive, and use the awesome power of your imagination. Here’s how:
Pick a challenge like creating a project plan, and imagine how much better your life will be when you’ve achieved this. Get excited about it. Sit comfortably, and float outside your body, and see yourself carrying out the task easily and effortlessly. Create vivid pictures, and put them where you already see things you’re passionate about. See what has to be done first, then what follows, and what comes next. Then, bang! – do the thing right away, and notice how easy it is!
Some martial artists use a similar approach. They observe the teacher doing something, then make a mental picture of doing it themselves, and then they step into the picture, and become familiar with the movements in their imagination. Chinese martial artists take the process one step further. They start by creating pictures in their mind of themselves performing a movement as perfectly as the teacher. They play these images over and over again, and then they turn the picture around, step inside the teacher, and then make the movements.
Use this simple, powerful technique to get things done now!
Want to learn more? Then get in touch! We regularly teach NLP, Hypnosis and Time Line TherapyTM Techniques around the world. The best way to learn more is to get in touch with us by email:
