What stops you from achieving your dreams are the nightmares that you believe in.
A dream (as in aspiration) is a mental picture that makes you feel good. A nightmare (as in something you dread) is a mental picture that makes you feel bad. In fact, the pictures inside your head (whether you’re aware of them or not) determine the way you feel and behave far more than your external reality does.
Although our internal representations are triggered by things outside of us, they are seen in our mind through the filters of our past conditioning, therefore all our experiences are subjective. This means that we have the ability to update what’s going on inside our heads and experience reality in the way that we choose to (essentially co-creating our own reality).
Each time you think “I can’t do that”, I’m not good enough”, “That’s too risky”, “I’ll never achieve what I desire” and other limiting thoughts, your action or inaction is driven by who you used to be instead of who you can be.
Overcoming these types of mental obstacles means setting yourself free to experience more of your potential. In part 1 of this article series we tuned in on eliminating the effect of negative self talk, in part 3 we’ll deal with negative feelings, in this article lets focus transforming negative mental pictures into resourceful ones. Here you will be learning one of the NLP Swish Patterns, for which we have a training video too.
Here are the steps:
- Think of something that you would like to achieve, but don’t feel optimistic about, perhaps because previous attempts have failed or you think you don’t have what it takes etc. As you think about this desire, what picture comes to mind regarding your inability to achieve it? This is your picture number 1.
. - Now think about a purple elephant being chased by a pink kangaroo…(This is called a Break State in NLP. It’s to clear one state from your neurology so that you can focus on a new one).
. - If you woke up tomorrow morning and a miracle had happened so that you absolutely know with certainty that you can now achieve your desire (from above), what does the picture of your successful achievement look like? This is your picture number 2.
. - Has the pink kangaroo caught up to the purple elephant yet?
. - Now call up your picture 1 and then place a miniature version of picture 2 directly in the centre of it. You’re going to zoom both pictures out over an imaginary horizon and what’s going to come zooming back at you is only picture 2.
. - Ready, go…See picture 1 (with a miniature picture 2 inside it) becoming smaller and smaller as they zoom off into the distance, over that imaginary horizon and then zooming back at you now is only picture 2. See picture 2 big, bright and colourful in front of you.
. - What would the pink kangaroo do if the purple elephant suddenly climbed a Marula tree and threw Marula fruits at it?
. - Call up picture 1 again with a miniature picture 2 in the centre of it. Zoom them over that horizon and see picture 2 zooming fast towards you. Now view an even bigger, brighter and more colourful picture 2.
. - And if both the elephant and kangaroo were to forget about everything and sit together eating Marula fruits, what then?
. - For the last time call up picture 1 again, and you may see this differently now – hazy, dull or out of focus. Place a small picture 2 in the centre of it and zoom them over the horizon. And zooming fast back at you comes that even more compelling than before picture 2. Step into that picture now so that you’re there experiencing your successful achievement first hand. See what’s going on around you, hear the sounds and get that good feeling associated with achieving your desire.
. - And so the intoxicating effect of the Marula fruits got the purple elephant and pink kangaroo singing and they both lived happily ever after.
Now, considering the outcome that you’re going to achieve, take a proactive step towards it, follow your inner guidance and expect to be surprised 😉
Written by Jevon Dangeli – MSc Transpersonal Psychology, Coach & Trainer
