Neuro-Linguistic Programming Models Summary (08 of 14)

Beware of all labels

The problem with labels is that they can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a trusted source labels you in some way you tend to believe it and then act accordingly. Your label becomes your reality. But the truth is that your personality much more than a label carry. Far from enabling you to understand why you act like you do, labelling only serves to satisfy the human need to categorize things superficially so that they don't have to dig any deeper to understand what's really going on.

Independent / Team Player / Manager

Determining a person's natural mode of operation within the context of thisMeta-Program is of great benefit when it comes to assessing their suitability to working independently, working as part of a team, or in managing others. Also revealed is a person's adaptability in inter-personal relationships.

Are they typically inclined toward the success and progress of others?Do they feel motivated by a desire to equip and/or assist them? When you're working on a project of some kind, do you have a good idea of the resources you need to be able to work confidently and effectively?

Ask Yourself: Have you ever been asked to oversee a task that required delegating work to others? Did you feel that you had a good idea what things those who reported to you needed to do their jobs effectively? Did you find it easy giving people instructions and directing their efforts, or did the experience make you uncomfortable?

People who are effective and managing: Will answer "yes" to all three of the above mentioned questions.

Are skilled at managing both themselves, and others.

Are very aware of the direction they and others need to take in order to achieve success, and are comfortable with sharing their views boldly.

Tend to want to take charge in a project-orientated environment and expect others to adopt the same strategies as they do.

People who are effective at working independently:Will answer "Yes, no, no." to the above questions.

Are aware of what it takes to achieve the goal in question, but lack the motivation to actually lead and manage.

Are effective at motivating themselves and taking responsibility for their actions. Possess large resources of self-control and discipline.

People who are dependent workers:Will answer "No, yes, no-or-yes."

Tend to rely on someone telling them what needs to be done.

May not feel confident about their opinion of what needs to be done, may simply lack the intuition to recognise the correct strategy at all, or naturally function in a passive mode ... waiting on instructions.Usually have no problem following instructions once they have been provided.

People who display potential at being effective managers: Will answer the three questions, "Yes, yes-or-no, no."

Feel confident in knowing what others need to do in order to achieve, but hesitant with regard to sharing their thoughts and/or suggestions.

Feel threatened or intimidated by the idea of managing others.

People who operate most effectively as team players: Will answer, "Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes." 

May feel comfortable in a manager role, or not, depending on the context and factors at the time.

May feel comfortable sharing the responsibility for driving the success of the group.

Enjoy the relational aspect of working as part of a team, and the energy that they draw from it.

Place a high value on family and togetherness.

SATIR CATEGORIES AS COMMUNICATION MODES

The work of Virginia Satir has led to the identification of 5 distinguishable styles of communication. Satir noted that communication has to do with both information, and the style in which that information is relayed. Four of these modes are considered to be ineffective and poor in terms of producing positive results.These are placating, computing, distracting and blaming.Though generally unproductive, these four modes have the potential of being putto constructive use. Satir highlighted the generally healthy mode of communication as levelling. Which of the five communication modes mentioned above typically represents your strategy for communicating with others?Behaviours such as pleasing others, soothing, pacifying and making concessions comprise what is known as placating. When a person feels they have no other option put to accommodate and please others, we can say that the have an addiction to the acceptance and approval of others:Those who adopt a placating approach:

Are afraid of being rejected or abandoned by others, or that the people around them will direct anger toward them.

Consequently use language that is intended to win the favour of others, always trying to gain approval, constantly apologetic, and never confrontational or disagreeing.

Adopt an attitude that appears to suggest that they are useless and hopeless.The computing mode refers to those who detach themselves from their emotions and attempt to respond to situations in a logical and controlled way that is not influenced by their feelings.Those who adopt a computing approach:

Are intent on delivering responses that are cool and calculated.

Tend to feel cool and dry physiologically speaking.Keep their voices even and make use of abstract language.

Have often developed a fear and caution regarding their own emotions.The distracting mode refers to behaving and responding in an unpredictable manner that that jolts and interrupts oneself and others.

Those who adopt a distracting approach:Tend to shift between the other behavioural modes quickly and without prior indication.

Are known to say or do things that are in no way relevant to the language and actions of others.Tend to feel dizzy and panicked physiologically.

Utilise a tone of voice that is erratic and unstable ... varying in pitch for no apparent reason.

Can appear to have significant psychological issues which makes relating to them challenging.The blaming mind set refers to constantly looking for and seeing problems and fault, bossing others around and trying to manipulate and control others.

Satir Categories As Communication Model 

Placating, afraid / computing, logical / distracting, erractic / blaming, pushy / leveling, harmony

Congruent / Incongruent

Working to bring change to ourselves can be easy when we are congruent, that is we are in harmony with ourselves and fully dedicated to the change. We are incongruent when we experience internal conflict which does not facilitate the process of change.

Internal conflict arises when we are split between wanting to do two things at the same time but we can’t do them simultaneously. One example is when someone asks us a favour. We are internally torn between wanting to do them the favour and to continue doing what we are doing. Here, our body language and voice tone differ. We may tell them ‘yes’ but our body sign lacks the enthusiasm.

The other example is when we are in a state of uncertainty between two conflicting options. One part of us wants to do something while the other has another idea to, say, have a drink at the local pub. We want to do both at the present moment.

There are times when we find ourselves associated with incongruent people who make us feel unsure of ourselves as to how to deal with them. They may say yes in agreement to go along or do something with us. But their facial expression does not match their affirmative response. Their reply may be, “Yes, sure” but the expression on their face clearly lacks enthusiasm. Other incongruent people willingly promise to do you a favour. Then they change their mind.

Understanding the incongruence in other people makes it easier for us to accept it as a normal occurrence. We only need to seek clarification of their incongruence by asking for the reason for their unenthusiastic look when they give a positive reply or their change of mind. It’s desirable to understand their incongruence as there may well be something else that has to be dealt with.

We of course are not congruent with every person we meet. The way we behave when we are with our girlfriends differs from that when we are with our male friends. Our attitudes towards our parents, teachers, the doctor who treats us or even the policeman who stops us for a traffic infringement are unlikely to be the same.

We are made up of different parts and each part is brought into operation for each different situation we are in or each person we meet. When the different parts are united in one whole, we are congruent.

Competitive / Cooperative / Polarity / Meta

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” — Peter Drucker

Have you ever noticed how some people always argue, while others seem to always agree?  Have you noticed how some people seem to always over-react?

For yourself, have you noticed whether you automatically try to find ways to agree or disagree?   For example, do you try to find examples of how something might be true, or do you look for exceptions by default?

Welcome to NLP Meta-Programs.

These are NLP Meta-Programs in action.

Meta-Programs are patterns or tendencies.  They help us understand how people function in any given context.  You can also think of them as the primary programs that govern a person’s mental processes.  That’s what makes them “Meta.” They are above and beyond.

Learn Meta-Programs to Understand People

You can improve your communication skills by learning NLP Meta-Programs.  They’ll help you understand the ways that people respond to people, data, things, and situations.

They’ll also help you understand why you respond the way that you do.

Worst case, they’ll help you keep your sanity, once you understand the patterns you see around you.

By developing an awareness of the patterns of how people tend to respond, you can develop your tolerance and appreciation for other communication styles, as well as develop your own flexibility.

In The Big Book of NLP, Expanded: 350+ Techniques, Patterns & Strategies of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Shlomo Vaknin shares more than 50 NLP Meta-Programs that help us understand our own Meta-Programs and the Meta-Programs other people use to make sense of their world.

In this post, I want to focus on the Competitive, Cooperative, Polarity, and Meta Meta-Program.  Once you understand this pattern, you’ll gain tremendous insight into how you respond to information, as well as how those around you respond, and you can better blend your style as appropriate.

Competitive, Cooperative, Polarity, and Meta

We tend to have default responses when interacting with other people.  It might be competitive, where we play a game of “one-upmanship”, or to prove somebody wrong.  It might be cooperative, where we try to find ways to agree, or help somebody make their point, and explore it with them.  We might have a pattern where we polarize people, by taking the opposite position. Or, we might take a more meta approach and look from the balcony view.

Vaknin writes:

“META-PROGRAMS REPRESENT TENDENCIES OF BEHAVIOUR AND RESPONSES ALONG A CONTINUUM, FLUCTUATING AND CHANGING OVER TIME DEPENDING ON THE SITUATIONAL CONTEXT.   WE EXPRESS OURSELVES IN RELATION TO PEOPLE, DATA, THINGS AND SITUATIONS ON A NUMBER OF WAYS. THESE STYLES OF EXPRESSION INCLUDE COMPETITIVE, COOPERATIVE, POLARITY, AND META.

IF A COMPANY THAT YOU WORKED AT FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS ANNOUNCED THEIR INTENTION TO MERGE WITH ANOTHER, WOULD YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM GOING WITH THE FLOW AND EMBRACING THE INEVITABLE CHANGE?

WOULD YOU BE OPPOSED TO THE CHANGES IMPOSED ON YOUR LIFE?

PERHAPS YOU’D LOOK BEYOND THE FACTS AND DETAILS OF THE MERGE AND CONTEMPLATE THE REASONS OR FACTORS THAT LEAD TO IT TAKING PLACE?”

Competitive Response

According to Vaknin, people who adopt a competitive response:

• Process the relevant thoughts, experience and feelings in terms of competition and comparison.
• Tend to ask questions like, “Who do I consider to be the best, the first, the strongest …”, etc.
• Can display a sense of excitement regarding any situation which they may be able to turn into a competition.
• Have a Win/Lose mentality.

Cooperative Response

According to Vaknin, people who have a cooperative response:

• Have an attitude of helping those around them to share the experiences at hand.
• Tend to ask questions like, “What can I do to make this experience more meaningful for everyone involved?”
• Do their best to secure a Win/Win outcome.

Polarity Response

According to Vaknin, people who adopt a polarity response:

• Base their choice or response on opposing those that are presented to them … flipping to the opposite end of the relevant behavioral spectrum.
• Will tend to respond with stress and tension in a calm environment for example.
• Will find or create reasons why the situation they are presented with isn’t real or cannot possibly last, therefore choosing the other direction.
• Enjoy competing and will therefore often adopt a competitive mode of behaviour.

Meta Response

According to Vaknin, people who attempt a Meta response:

• Evaluate situations at a higher logical level as a result of having thought about the situation at hand, and not just responding to it.
• The more adaptable we become in our behavioural strategies, the more efficiently we will be able to switching between these various modes of communicating and emoting at will.
• You can improve your ability to connect with others and communicate more effectively through self-awareness and flexibility.

To put this NLP Meta-Program into practice, see if you can notice other people’s style or preference: Competitive, Cooperative, Polarity, and Meta.

See if you can notice your own.

Play around with your style and see if you can get better results by adapting your style with different people.

Socially : Active / Inactive / Both / Reflective

Do you take action when a problem occurs, or don’t move until you are forced to? The action filter describes how much urgency or energy you feel to make changes. On the other hand, it describes how much reflection you give to a situation.

Many in NLP (and business) have interpreted action to be the opposite of reflection – an either/or proposition. Reflection is a kind of action. Thinking takes up 20% of our energy, so it can’t be an opposite. If it were, when you were not thinking, you would be acting and when you were not acting you would be thinking.

There is differing opinions on the consequences of this Meta program because of this confusion. In my humble opinion, it has also contributed to a polarizing of academia and business.

The Action Reflection Matrix

In my experience there are two forces operating here to form a matrix rather than a scale of opposites.

Active/Inactive Axis

Active and inactive refer to the amount of stress and activation (or parasympathetic, sympathetic nervous system activity). The active/inactive axis has the fight/flight response at one end and the resting response at the other.

Reflective/Non Reflective Axis

Reflection is our higher thinking capacity, to observe interactions – being able to stand back (dissociation). Non-reflection is the opposite – an absence of thought, which isn’t the same as active. Dissociation doesn’t make you passive

Proactive Action Filter – Action and Reflection

The proactive filter combines action and reflection. This is Steven Covey’s concept of proactive. This combination is ideal in complex environments. Auditory digital and taking notice of feedback before acting or continuing is strongly developed.

Reactive Action Filter – Action Without Reflection

The reactive filter combines action with non reflection or internal dialogue. At its best, this is ideal in sports and performances, as well as emergencies where instincts are required. They take initiative, and are willing to jump in and have a go, without the need to analyze it to death first. They see what they want and go for it.

Inactive Action Filter – the Non-Reflective Inactive Quadrant

The inactive filter combines an absence of reflection and activity. This combination ideally occurs in a meditative state. At an extreme, it could also be catatonia – not so good.

The parasympathetic nervous system creates a dampening effect. Your heart rate slows down. Digestion happens and breathing deepens. We process information.

Reflective Action Filter – Reflecting without Acting

The reflective filter combines reflection with inaction. Thinking before making risky decisions is an important part of success. You can’t build a very stable or comfortable house without a well-considered blue print. Considering consequences and being able to delay gratification for a bigger reward is part of growing up and becoming an effective adult.

Things / System / People / Information

In NLP training, the senses through which we experience the world, are referred to as representational systems. Hence, you have several different systems working for you: visual (for things you see), auditory (for things you hear), kinaesthetic (things you feel or tactile sensations), AD or self talk (also called labelling system), olfactory (things you smell), and gustatory (things you taste).

The Neuro Linguistic Programming community says that we all have a system that we prefer to another and hence, process most information through it. This is of course a generalisation, yet it will give you a clue as to what might be going on right! This preferred system can be determined through physiology and predicates used in a conversation. Let’s look at an example:

-The way I look at this is that it is still rather unclear.

-I really don’t feel comfortable with this.

-This really doesn’t sound right to me.

So, any guesses as to which are the preferred systems of the examples above? Knowing the preferred representational system of someone is useful in virtually any context. Imagine you go to Spain and communicate in English.

Chances are, the general gist of what you want to say will get across (hopefully!), yet the finer distinctions of what you are saying are lost. It is the same with representational systems. If you present information in somebody else’s preferred system, this information will be virtually irresistible to them!

Now, apart from words, the physiology can give you indications of what the preferred system is. In general, visual people will tend to speak very fast, move their hands on shoulder or head level, sit bolt upright and give big importance to their visual appearance. Auditory people will tend to breath from the middle of their chest, get easily distracted by noise, are medium to fast talkers, and gestures are usually on chest level.

Kinaesthetic people will tend to talk quite slow, have low breathing from the belly, stand quite close to whoever they are talking to, and have low and smooth gestures. You could fall into the trap of generalising here, but beware of trying to label people as one or another, we are a mix of each. The best target is to hone each of yours to the best of your ability

Apart from the preferred, we also have a primary or lead representational system. The lead system determines how we store information and how we access it. This system can be determined through eye accessing cues. The primary system is the one we prefer to show our internal world through. Primary noticed through predicates and body language.

Quantitative / Qualitative

Concrete data and inductive reasoning / deductive or abductive reasoning

Knowledge Sort

Modelling, pattern / conceptualising, investigating / demostration, live encounter / experiencing, senses / authoriative, verified

Closure / Non-Closure

Enthusiastic towards the end of something / beginning of something

Social Presentation

Shrewd and artful, manipulative / sincere and artless, anti-social

Power, Affiliation and Achievement

The McClelland Model of  motivation theory is based on the assumption that through life experiences, people develop various needs.

The three needs are:

• The need for achievement the desire to do something better than it has been done before.
• The need for power the desire to control, influence, or be responsible for other people.
• The need for affiliation the desire to maintain close and friendly personal relationships.

People have all of these needs to some extent.  The relative strength of the needs influences what will motivate a person.

In business you can assess leadership qualities by understanding the relative strength of the needs

In respect of power needs: 

Power stories reflect influencing others, defeating an opponent or competitor, winning and argument, or attaining a position of greater authority. Persons with low need for power may lack the assertiveness and self confidence necessary to organise and direct group activities effectively.

A high need for power may be expressed as “personalised power” or “socialised power.” People with high personalised power may have little inhibition or self control, and they exercise power impulsively. Correlated with this are tendencies to be rude, excessive use of alcohol, sexual harassment, and collecting symbols of power (e.g., big offices, desks, fancy cars, etc.). When they give advice or support, it is with strategic intent to further bolster their own status. They demand loyalty to their leadership rather than to the organization. When the leader leaves the organization there is likely disorder and breakdown of team morale and direction.

Socialised power need is most often associated with effective leadership. These leaders direct their power in socially positive ways that benefit others and the organization rather than only contributing to the leader’s status and gain. They seek power because it is through power that tasks are accomplished. They are more hesitant to use power in a manipulative manner, are less narcissistic and defensive, accumulate fewer material possessions or symbols of power or status, have a longer range perspective, and are more willing to receive consultation and advice. They realise that power must be distributed and shared, and that everyone must have a sense of influence over their own jobs. Effective leaders empower others who use that power to enact and further the leader’s vision for the organization. For technical managers, need for achievement was predictive of advancement through lower levels of management, but power was predictive of higher levels of attainment.

Value Sort

Have you ever thought about what value you place on certain characteristics?

Personal Value Sort Cards* are a popular way to determine which attributes you value the most. By using a pre-determined format you can learn what characteristics you prioritise by placing them in columns: ‘Very important’, ‘Somewhat Important’ & ‘Not important’.

To make things more difficult, the task restricts the number of values in each column – forcing the user to prioritise further.

Once completed, the task highlights the user’s unique values better, allowing the user to assess all aspects of life from personal to professional.

Strong-willed / Compliant / Stubborn

Assertive / receptive / resistance

Conditional / Unconditional

What is conditional love?

Conditional love is a polarised emotion, meaning that it has an opposite emotion. The opposite extreme of love is hatred. Conditional love comes from ego and generally focuses on someone (like a romantic partner, child, parent, friend) or some thing (like a house, a car, or a job). When we love someone conditionally, we tend to want them to look, act, and think in ways that fit our own paradigms and expectations. We hold others accountable to our expectations in order to qualify for our affection. If they act the way we want them to, we express our approval; if they act contrary to our wishes, we withhold our expression of acceptance of them, usually in some form of anger. Conditional love polarizes our internal thought process to believe, “I am right, and you are wrong, so I think you should see things my way.” As soon as begin to judge someone as being right or wrong, it is our cue that we are not in a space of unconditional love because we are perceiving that we are the authority for someone else’s life. This ultimately results in a power play for everyone involved because it focuses on control, which typically elicits a defensive reaction from the people whom we are trying to change.

Another version of conditional love is passion, a term we use for the sexual feelings we have when we meet someone with whom we have “chemistry.” The term “falling in love” is a revealing expression indicating that we sometimes lose ourselves when we are involved in a passionate romantic relationship based on conditional love. Possibly, this is because we are looking for another person to complete us rather than looking to share our whole self with another. “Looking for our other half” is a statement that strongly indicates we are seeking to make ourselves whole through someone else, rather than working on ourselves to become more of who we truly are.

When someone acts in a way that vastly deviates from our expectations or does something to hurt us or someone we care about, we can transform the emotion of conditional love to the complete opposite end of the spectrum – hatred. Hatred is a very strong emotion that is rooted in fear. Hatred is extremely destructive and wreaks havoc on our mental, emotional, and physical well being.

What is Unconditional Love?

Unconditional love is neutral and has no opposite polarity. The source of unconditional love is Spirit; therefore it is available to everyone without discernment, and there is absolutely nothing we need to do to qualify for it. Unconditional love comes through to us at a soul level, beginning at the level of self-acceptance and self-forgiveness, and radiates divine light to everyone and everything. When we make a conscious decision to choose thoughts based on unconditional love, it does not mean that we agree with everyone and everything. It means that we consciously commit ourselves to expressing respect, kindness, and cooperation to everyone and everything in our environment.

Unconditional love is not something that happens to us or outside of us. It is the life force of energy within our very being and is ingrained in every cell of our bodies. We don’t have to search for love–we ARE, each one of us, the physical embodiment of unconditional love. Because unconditional love is life energy, it is formless, infinite, constantly in motion, and unconditionally available to us 24/7!

Unconditional love has a positive effect on our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual state of being, creating truth, joy, beauty, health, harmony, and everything in the world that is in our greatest good. The benevolent, compassionate nature of universal love flows through us and blesses everyone and everything it touches.

When we open our hearts to receiving and expressing the love of the universe, we feel expansive and radiant. We automatically rise above the limitations of fear because unconditional love is infinitely more powerful than fear; in fact, unconditional love is the most powerful force in existence. There is no amount of darkness that can blot out light; yet the tiniest amount of light can overcome darkness. This means that no matter how dark and chaotic our lives may seem at times, we can find comfort in knowing that our earthly world is always held within an infinitely larger context of universal love and light.

Remembering that we are each created in the energy of divine love gives us great inspiration and renewed hope that we each have the power to bring our own unique expression of unconditional love to the world, which brings healing to everyone and everything we touch.

Self Confidence : High / Low

Confidence is one of those things that can help in every aspect of your life, and can be gained or strengthened quite easily using NLP. Confidence gained by way of NLP is just as powerful as confidence gained through experience. Once this is understood, and you master the ability to gain confidence through NLP, it becomes a snowballing juggernaut of positivity.

Confidence is a relatively simple psychological tool that provides great power, so why is it so hard for most people to achieve? In my opinion, most of the blame can be put on the fact that all humans spend the first dozen years of their life actively attacking the confidence of all around them. Some people stop this in their teens, others do this their whole lives. This is because of the flawed human instinct that you can gain confidence yourself by destroying the confidence of others. Luckily, this particular flaw we can turn around to work for us.

Take the picture on the top of this page, with the cat who sees himself as a lion. When other cats see him, they don't see a lion, they see a cat. But the cat's body language will show to all the other cats that he holds himself in high regard. The other cats will think that the lion cat is very sure of himself, and probably for a good reason. After all, throughout lion cat's childhood, he must have been thoroughly "tested" by all the other kittens - yet he has such confidence! No other cat will question this confidence, they will simply accept it.

Mind / Emotion / Body / Role

What do we understand by the concept and role of the unconscious mind? What role does the unconscious mind have in maintaining negative and destructive behaviours in people? We discuss the unconscious mind at length in our NLP Trainings and here are some thoughts:

We don’t pay attention to our unconscious mind, we are not aware of it. Our unconscious mind has “Prime Directives” or ‘Duties”. The prime directives of the mind are frames or ways of thinking that are convenient, they serve us with a purpose.Firstly, it controls our bodies, the autonomic unconscious functions of the body – for example breathing and our reflexes. It has it’s idea, a blueprint of the best state of being for our body and mind and will always try to keep us at our healthiest. That said it can get it wrong, the unconscious mind is also responsible for preserving the body, if there were a mix up of intentions between the unconscious and conscious mind. The unconscious mind always acts in what it believes is the best intention and will look for the least effort, the path of least resistance, to get its results.It stores information Temporally (in relation to time) for example limiting decisions and Atemporally (not in relation to time) for example, language and values. Our unconscious mind stores memories, Wilder Penfield learnt that everything is stored in the unconscious mind, all our memories. It is the domain of emotions, so we consciously give orders to the unconscious mind to change the way we feel in order to change our emotions. It organises all of our memories, and can recall them in a sequence, like a movie or timeline in our minds. So as we continue living our lives the unconscious mind will relate it to things in the past, so we make judgements on current experiences based on those we have stored, either positive or negative. That means that we can attach a negative emotion to a current state based on that experience recall, even though the current experience may not be negative. And by changing the way we feel, how our unconscious mind recalls that we can change our current state, how we feel.

The unconscious mind can also maintain negative and destructive behaviours in people as it also represses memories with unresolved negative emotions, working to protect us from negative memories with negative emotions. The unconscious mind keeps it repressed until we have the lessons, resources within ourselves that we need in order to be able to overcome that negative emotion. When we have the ability, resources our unconscious mind will present the repressed memory for resolution, in order that we may be able to translate that memory, our past experience in a positive way for us, enabling the old negative emotion to be released.

If the mind were to keep presenting these negative emotions for our resolution, and we keep repressing them, eventually the unconscious mind can get used to these suggestions rejected that it no longer presents the negative emotions, which can run the risk of it refusing to release them at all, meaning we unconsciously hold on to these negative emotions. Storing negative emotions is uncomfortable, it holds dis-ease or disease and can make us genuinely ill, and some people become unable to express or feel anything at all. On the other hand, if you were in an environment that it would be inappropriate to to reveal your emotions, the unconscious mind would repress them for our protection, for example a doctor giving patients bad news.

The unconscious mind needs clear orders to follow, if you want to lose weight but you want that chocolate, it will become confused between the two. This is why negative patterns can continue in people who are overweight. And by proper and clear instructions one can improve because with constant and continued focus on one area of improvement the conscious mind will deliver. Because it controls and maintains all that we perceive, it receives and transmits perceptions to the conscious mind. People who focus on negative thoughts then continue to direct the unconscious mind in that direction, and negative emotions can be powerful ones, and because the unconscious mind generates, stores and distributes energy we need to make the right positive requests the energy required to overcome our negative emotions.

It maintains instincts and generates habits, for example learning to tie shoes. And so negative behaviour and habits can easily become installed in the unconscious mind. We can re-learn them by making them conscious. And, as with all habits, the unconscious mind requires repetition until that habit or a new healthy habit is installed. But because it is programmed to continually seek more, the more you feed it the more it wants, and so people develop problems with drug or alcohol abuse. And with smoking, a highly repetitive habit installed, that is negative for us. And this is also where negative behaviours can be maintained, because we consciously repress the issue and seek, consciously, a short term resolution to cover that negative emotion.

To change negative thoughts to positive ones requires a lot of positive energy and focus, and the unconscious mind works best as a whole integrated unit, when all of you, your conscious and unconscious is focused on the same goal. Incongruence in our conscious and unconscious mind can keep negative and destructive behaviours from becoming resolved.

It is symbolic, uses associations and is the basis for intuition. If it notices something within a situation that was negative in the past it can direct you or you ‘feel your instinct’ telling you something there is wrong.

It takes everything personally, the basis for perception is projection. Or as I like to say “it’s all about me” and that can be negative as well as positive. All your thoughts relate back to the self, so what you don’t like in someone else, is usually a reflection of something in yourself that you don’t like. Lastly, it cannot process negatives, so don’t do x, y, or z is received as do it!

The role of the unconscious mind is that it serves various purposes in running the body. It stores memories of all events. Some memories are stored in line with your timeline, others such as values are not. Language and how it is used to place order and reference on experiences are not stored in a timeline.

It is the domain of emotions and as it uses a timeline to reference your experiences it can access emotions and feelings as well. From the experiences we have, we store and organise the memories along with the feelings and emotions that correspond with it. In essence it acts as a template for reference. It collates memories and stores them as experiences. In the here and now, where a situation may arise with similarities to a previous experience, it is likely that your unconscious mind will provide an intervention to either protect you or inform you of the best solution to the situation. The unconscious mind has information needed to repair the body and maintain the body’s running.

The role the unconscious mind has in maintaining negative and destructive behaviours in people is that when we experience negative situations, the bad memories are often repressed as a protection mechanism. They are stored until they can be resolved. it’s a bit like putting them into a special filling cabinet in the back of your mind. The problem with this is that the more that are stored, it can affect your health as there is always a potential for negative emotional consequences to surface, while there is negative content present. This can lead to a conditioning where the unconscious becoming accustomed to negative emotion and effectively normalising it.. The release of emotion is a natural process and a congruent one as it demonstrates rapport with oneself and is emotionally necessary.