Enhancing emotional states

It’s high time we started to use all the methods we have learnt by now and did a practical and pleasant exercise.

Brief remark: it would be good if you did it with another NLP passionate with an open mind. At that time it would be easier because one person can concentrate on performing the exercise and the other on keeping the procedure. Of course, you can do it yourself as well.

Let’s begin...

I will ask you to recall an exceptionally nice and pleasant moment. Bring your thoughts back to the situation which was accompanied by particularly positive feelings. Do it now, refrain yourself for a moment from reading this text. I want your mind to create a picture. If you see it, try to determine its individual submodalities. Ask yourself about:

  • How far is this picture?
  • What are its dimensions? Is it limited? Or is it a panoramic view surrounding you?
  • Is it light or dark?
  • Is it sharp or blur?
  • Is it colourful or black and white?
  • Is it a movie or rather a photograph?
  • Do you see it depth or it is rather flat?
  • Do you see yourself? Or you see the picture through your own eyes?

Think for a while if the situation is connected with sounds. If you hear them, determine:

  • if they are loud?
  • their timbre, tone
  • which place you hear them from?

What is also very important you should define how pleasant are these feelings in your body. Now, we will be aiming at enhancing these feelings.

Focus on particular submodalities for a while. Are there any different characteristics not mentioned above which are connected with your recollection? Repeat one more time all submodalities that characterize your representation of this memory (i.e. clear, close, sharp...)

The crux of the matter...

Start to modify particular submodalities linked with your experiment one by one, carefully and without a hurry. Pay attention to the way your feelings change with the alteration of every characteristic. There are several things that you may do:

  • if the picture is quite near, bring it even closer
  • if it is clear, make it clearer, sharper, brighter and the colours more vivid and more saturated
  • let the limited picture become a panoramic view surrounding you from all sides
  • check what will happen if you put the motionless picture in motion or stopped the running movie
  • ascertain how the fact of being in association or dissociation influences your feelings
  • make the sounds that you hear louder, change the place they come from
  • make up any other method of modification of your experience submodalities...

And how is it? How much did these particular changes influence the intensity of feelings?

I am aware of the fact that reading this instruction and following the recommendations at the same time may be difficult, so now repeat it again as you know the principles.

If you realize what influences your feelings most and when they become nicest, give this exercise all the best submodalities and then anchor it in the place in which it is now.

Is it nice?

Everything can be done in the opposite direction. Just think about an unpleasant experience, determine its submodalities and then weaken it in a proper way so that its influence was as slight as possible.