Have you ever felt like your brain is a computer with 50 different tabs all open at the same time screaming for your attention?
Today I'm going to show you how to access the part of your mind to close those tabs for good and to reclaim your calm.
I used this exact same NLP technique earlier on this week with a client of mine.
The lady,
Well let's let's call her Anna,
It's not a real name,
She arrived for our session feeling totally overwhelmed by the weight of her daily responsibilities and those thoughts that went along with them.
But after just one practice she described mental clarity that she hadn't experienced she said in years.
So seeing that type of transformation reminded me how vital these tools are and so I decided to share this one with you.
Before we start I think it's really important to understand the why behind what we're about to do.
In neurolinguistic programming NLP we work with what we call submodalities.
Now these are tiny details of how you experience something in your senses like for example brightness of an image or how loud an inner voice sounds or noises.
They're a bit like the brain's coding language for experiences and emotions.
Think of your thoughts as files on a computer and when we do that most of us focus on the content of the file but NLP focuses on the structure of the file.
So when you feel overwhelmed it's usually because the images in your mind are too big,
They're too bright or they're too close to you.
In other words they're screaming for your attention.
By changing things like the brightness,
The volume,
The size of the mental image what you're doing is you're literally telling your nervous system that this thought is no longer a threat which means you're not just thinking differently you're actually remapping your neurological response and creating new neural pathways.
So in this session we're going to get you to move from being a victim of your own software to becoming your own programmer.
Now we often forget that our brains are still running on old habits and outdated beliefs that many of us picked up for years ago during our formative years.
Imagine trying to run the latest high performance software on a computer say from I don't know the 90s.
I mean it would lag,
It would crash and eventually well eventually it would overheat and that overheating is what we call overwhelm when we've too many circular thoughts or outdated system files running in the background.
Our processing speed slows down so this session is designed to help you identify those background processes and shut them down so that your system can run fast and smoothly again.
To get the most out of this session your environment is absolutely key so I'd like you to find a safe and comfortable place where you can either sit or perhaps lie down definitely without being disturbed because when your body is supported and it's still your brain moves from beta waves which is our active waking and often stress state into alpha or theta waves.
Alpha and theta are the brain waves that we put out as we're about to slip into a sleeping state.
Right now take a moment to dim the lights,
Silence your phone and just settle in and when you're ready take a nice deep breath and follow my voice and just for a moment step into that control room of your mind.
I'd like you to think about those tabs I mentioned earlier and just for a moment imagine your mind is a high definition screen.
Just notice if the images on the screen are a bit too loud,
Maybe they're a bit too bright or perhaps a little too cluttered.
Now as you listen to my voice you can begin to see those unnecessary and unwanted tabs and windows closing one by one.
Also if there's any unwanted noise or sounds let's silence those right now.
To do that I'd like you to imagine there's a volume control to the left of your high definition screen.
Reach out with your hand and slowly start turning it all the way down to zero.
That's it.
Now reach across to a similar dial on the other side of those vivid anxious thoughts.
That's right.
All the way down until they become soft and distant.
Good.
Now drain the colour out so you're looking at a black and white picture.
Now I'd like you to shrink it down to the size of a postage stamp.
That's it.
Nice and small.
Once you've done that,
Push it off into the distance.
Give it a good push.
Keep pushing it further and further away from you.
So far that it's now completely disappeared.
Now look at the space you've created.
Notice how vast and huge and clean and perfectly still it is.
Feel that cool sense of mental clarity spreading from your head to your shoulders and down to your chest as you realize that you are now the one holding the controls.
And when you're ready,
Take another deep breath and bring yourself back into the room by wiggling your fingers and toes,
Opening your eyes.
Just stay in this space for a moment.
I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments.
What were the tabs you found and most satisfying ones to close?
Was it a specific sound that you turned down or a colour that you drained away?
You know,
Sharing your experiences helps to reinforce the new programming.
So just leave them below for me.
We'll see you next time.
