The exercise in a recent NLP Practitioner Certification included using the Logical Levels as a Life-Change Pattern with regard to acheiving an Outcome. The Logical Levels are from Robert Dilt’s contribution to NLP. Robert studied Gregory Bateson’s Logical Levels of Education and adapted it to a number of applications. The Logical Levels include Environment, Behavior, Capability, Values/Beliefs, Identity, and Spirit. My purpose here is not to describe what the levels are but to comment on how to do the exercise of taking an individual through the levels by taking an outcome (goal) and separating out and anchoring the state relating to each of the Logical Levels.

A student was asking if, “the logical levels are the pieces of the puzzle that are put together to make the outcome realized – not the actual steps, but maybe the rungs of the ladder that need to be in place to get you there.”

My answer is, “That sounds like a good basic frame although I don’t know if all the rungs ‘need’ to be there.” So, let’s expand it a bit for everyone. We are using Logical Levels as an NLP Life-Change Pattern. One of the basic premises we are working with here is that to accomplish any outcome, pathways through the brain and nervous system potentiate the ability and therefore the accomplishment. People who win the lottery rarely keep the money for long. In their programming, they have no foundation for having it or keeping it. A good question to ask is, “What prevents the person from already having the outcome they say they want?” Fully representing the outcome has not been achieved yet and/or secondary gain (usually a blind spot) has not been uncovered. The goal here is to experience the state of already having achieved the outcome. That will create a target state. Remember to keep refocusing on the target state that has already been created to manifest the result you want. To facilitate your subject/client, that’s all you need to be going for here with your subject or client. Could it be that simple? Well, yes, you’ll also have to do what’s necessary to follow through, however, this pattern bypasses most of the reasons most people do not achieve their goals.

NOTE: A Breakthrough is a goal or outcome that is big enough to change the way you play the game of yoru life affecting every thought and action and you don’t know how to achieve it from where you stand now. IT should be stated in the positive, self generating and not depending on others, and worded without qualifiers and quantifiers. This will relate to your Breakthrough. You want your Breakthrough/Outcome completed in a specific time frame or at least the foundation so completely in place that you have no doubt about it’s accomplishment. So, you need (A-I-S-B) – Want to (Attitude), Opportunity/Expectation to (Intention), Energy to (State) and Action (Behavior). Stated more simply, you want your subject to experience the completed outcome first; as in now. It’s a little counter-intuitive, and it’s what we are saying highly successful people do. You do want to model the strategies of highly successful people, don’t you? Most of us just haven’t been doing things this way until now.

Now, when you separate out the possible Logical Levels starting with Environment and anchor that state, the first thing you are sorting for is where on the Logical Level chart you or your client are operating now. You should eventually be able to recognize language at each level and match the person at their level for greater rapport. At Environment, you will want to pay attention to the language including “they,” “them,” “everyone,” “people do,” and other language referencing some cause outside the self, lack of responsibility or belief, and lack of a sense of internal causality as in “out of my control” and feelings that will include “frustrated,” and “apathetic.” Most of us will feel tense and frustrated although it is possible to find someone else (not us of course) for whom the state is much more comfortable. It can be easier not to have goals or take personal responsibility, and to blame others. And then, separating out and anchoring Behavior, Capability, Beliefs and Values, Identity, etc., your client will very likely gain some insight into what the barrier to achievement has been up to now. There’s often a release of emotional pressure when they get to the level that unhooks the old behavior.

NOTE: Remember that the old behavior has a positive intent and purpose and it’s been serving the person. Honor the old behavior for what it was trying to accomplish.
NOTE: Sometimes I step a person up past the Logical Level at which they were stuck, which is what I was trying to do with Kelli in the exercise on Sunday. From the point they are no longer stuck at all, looking back may give them the necessary clues to unhook the old behavior.
NOTE: Step your subject up from Environment to Behavior to Capability and back again so he/she has clear anchoring between the state attached to each level.
NOTE: If you are getting resistance, step off the levels and go back to the reason for doing the exercise. Does your subject really want the outcome? Does he/she want it in a compelling enough way to do what is necessary to get it. In this case, that includes moving their blind spot into full view. This process will do that.
That sounds like a good basic frame (below). Let’s expand it a bit for everyone. We are using Logical Levels as an NLP Life-Change Pattern. One of the concepts we are working with here is that to accomplish any outcome, pathways through the brain and nervous system potentiate the ability and therefore the accomplishment. People who win the lottery rarely keep the money for long. In their programming, they have no foundation for having it or keeping it. A good question to ask is, “What prevents the person from already having the outcome they say they want?” Fully representing the outcome has not been achieved yet and/or secondary gain (usually a blind spot) has not been uncovered. The goal here is to experience the state of already having achieved the outcome. That’s all you need to be going for here.

NOTE: This will relate to your Breakthrough. You want to come out of this course with the Breakthrough/Outcome completed or at least the foundation so completely in place that you have no doubt about it’s accomplishment. So, you need (A-I-S-B) – Want to (Attitude), Opportunity/Expectation to (Intention), Energy to (State) and Action (Behavior). Stated more simply, you want your subject to experience the completed outcome first. It’s a little counter-intuitive, and it’s what we are saying highly successful people do. Model highly successful behavior. Most of us just haven’t been doing things this way until now.

Now, when you separate out the possible Logical Levels starting with Environment and anchor that state, the first thing you are sorting for is where on the Logical Level chart you or your client are operating now. You should eventually be able to recognize language at each level and match the person at their level for greater rapport. At Environment, you will want to pay attention to the language including “they,” “them,” “everyone,” “people do,” and other language referencing some cause outside the self, lack of responsibility or belief, and lack of a sense of internal causality as in “out of my control” and feelings that will include “frustrated,” and “apathetic.” Most of us will feel tense and frustrated although it is possible to find someone else (not us of course) for whom the state is much more comfortable. It can be easier not to have goals or take personal responsibility, and to blame others. And then, separating out and anchoring Behavior, Capability, Beliefs and Values, Identity, etc., your client will very likely gain some insight into what the barrier to achievement has been up to now. There’s often a release of emotional pressure when they get to the level that unhooks the old behavior.

NOTE: Remember that the old behavior has a positive intent and purpose and it’s been serving the person. Honor the old behavior for what it was trying to accomplish.
NOTE: Sometimes I step a person up past the Logical Level at which they were stuck, which is what I was trying to do with Kelli in the exercise on Sunday. From the point they are no longer stuck at all, looking back may give them the necessary clues to unhook the old behavior.
NOTE: Step your subject up from Environment to Behavior to Capability and back again so he/she has clear anchoring between the state attached to each level.
NOTE: If you are getting resistance, step off the levels and go back to the reason for doing the exercise. Does your subject really want the outcome? Does he/she want it in a compelling enough way to do what is necessary to get it. In this case, that includes moving their blind spot into full view. This process will do that.

Logical Levels Exercise is a post from: Life Coach Phoenix

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Here’s the video link that appears on the TED Network: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9YExtrinsic. (cut and paste it)

Bring Notions of Motivation into the 21st Century

Pink says the old Extrinsic model of carrot and stick, reward and punishment methods of motivating are not going to get us out of our current economic difficulties. The new model of Intrinsic Motivation that is supported in actual science suggests that we adopt the idea of motivating people based on doing the right thing because its more interesting, challenging, and meaningful to them.

Pink calls on business to adopt a new business operating system based on three principles; Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. He says management in business is an invented concept that is good for compliance. However, if you want engagement, self-direction works better. Get money off the table as an incentive and let people work on what they want to work on the way they want to work. Pink cites examples of companies who have taken on the concept of Intrinsic Motivation where productivity consistently goes up like Googles 20% work model that allows people to work on any idea you want 20% of your time. People work better when they do things because they matter.

Repair what Pink labels ‘the lazy, dangerous, ideology of carrot and stick motivation to autonomy, mastery and purpose and we can change the world.

Check out the video and say what you think.

Surprising Science of Motivation is a post from: Life Coach Phoenix

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Thanks for your post and request for more information regarding my thread on
anxiety. I’ve been doing an internet search and most what I see there is at
the level of platitudes with regard to eliminating anxiety. Some say do
meditation, but no specific information on how to do it or to apply it to
the issue at hand.

I’m really not sure where to start answering your questions. I use a very
simplified NLP time line based process to show people that they have control
over their emotional states. I don’t even introduce the complete model for time
line. I do it so often that I don’t know what example would be useful. Try
it. It’s very simple. NLP is subjective. You can’t get it by thinking about it. You just have to do it.

Either get (client/friend) him/her in touch with me OR, do it yourself. Ask your
friend/client to access a specific example of anxiety. As soon as your
client/friend accesses the state of anxiety, you should be able to easily
calibrate that. Ask where he/she feels the sensations of anxiety in the
body (this anchors the state). I ask if it is based on a future event or
past event so that I can determine if it’s anxiety. If it’s based in the
past, it’s something else. This is now simple. Have your client/friend
imagine a future moment far enough out to experience significant relief or
even laughability. Have them be in that future moment and experience the
full sensations of being in the moment, seeing what they see, hearing what
they hear, and feeling what they feel, etc. Experience the good feelings and
keep them. Now simply jump him/her back to the present keeping the good
feelings, bringing them now into the present moment. Break state and have
him/her focus on things in the room or other environment to anchor present.
Make sure you have a good ‘break state’ and then check your work. Have
him/her think about the thing he/she was anxious about and notice the
feelings are gone or significantly reduced. Future pace the experience of
having the feeling now different in a few future moments. Just suggest they
will continue to notice the changed feelings later today and over the next
days, weeks, months etc. .

This one is so easy and effective you will be able to determine for yourself
that it is effective. With a few experiences of it, you will gain
confidence that the pattern works amazingly well. In the event that you get
someone who doesn’t notice a dramatic improvement immediately, you will want
to do some ecology work. There is secondary gain and perhaps some good
reason not to let go of the anxiety. Every behavior is there for a positive
intent and purpose.

If you person can get relief from one event, she/he can get relief in
various other examples until.

I actually now have another simple process that I believe will be effective
in addition to the process above. Look for another blog entry, Big Toe Anxiety Eliminator.

Bill Thomason
NLP Success Coach
Certified NLP Trainer
www.nlpskills.com
www.nlplifecoachphoenix.com
602 321-7192

NLP Anxiety Cure Pattern is a post from: Life Coach Phoenix

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For your client/friend with Anxiety (and I suspect compulsive behaviors of various kinds), have him/her think about or otherwise represent the anxious experience to self. Anchor it by asking where in the body he/she feels it. Break state. Remember anxiety is fear about something that has not happened yet. It’s irrational by definition. (Note: It might be necessary to set a bailout anchor for some clients before step 1 so you can fire it to get them out of the focus on the anxious pattern) Now have your client focus attention (7 + o r – 2 b.o.i.) on his/her big toe. When he/she can put attention there successfully for 90 seconds, switch to the other big toe until 90 seconds is achieved. (I start with similar focusing for relaxation self hypnosis with some clients so they learn to relax. I teach them to do it for themselves and recommend a few times per day.) The next steps are to focus attention on another body part and then another. The outcome you are looking for is to get your client/friend into the present moment. Anchor enough body parts that he/she can repeat the process for themselves. The more he/she comes back to present, the more control they are going to have over the anxiety. Future pace the ability to focus to a few moments when the person now has control over responses.

Note: If your person does not get fully associated to attention on big toe or other body part the first time, don’t worry. This is one of those ‘the more you do it, the deeper it goes, the easier it is to do’ things.

Bill Thomason
NLP Success Coach
Certified NLP Trainer
www.nlpskills.com
www.nlplifecoachphoenix.com
602 321-7192

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My response:

I have a couple of questions that might be useful just from the language in your post. First, know that NLP is useful in such cases. And the word ‘regression’ is interesting. People often use psychological words incorrectly, but I want to respond to it anyway. Regression is going back in time if you think about it. Although the habitual anxious response your colleague reports may be common to past events (and the objective will be to break the life pattern); anxiety is future based.

NLP Anxiety Cure

The NLP approach is to go into a future beyond the time a fearful event will have already been resolved one way or another. It will be resovled satisfactorily or the outcome may not be the most preferred outcome, but eventually looking back on it will no longer have a negative emotional charge. It may be funny by then. When a person can separate and anchor the resolved state (laughter about how silly the fear was is an excellent resolved state) then the resolved state can be brought back to present and anchored and enhanced. When the person has this one example of changing the anxious feelings to good positive feelings, the state can be generalized to many or most life circumstances and the new strategy for successfully handling situations can be integrated as a new life pattern.

Drugs Can Reduce Effectiveness

The second thing in your post that concerns me is the statement that she ‘needs’ anti-depressants and sleeping pills. An NLP Practitioner cannot tell your colleague to discontinue a doctors prescriptions, however, helping the person distinguish the physical symptom of ‘heart palpitations’ from needing drugs is useful. These are separate issues. Drugs can cloud the effects of an NLP intervention and chances are that by future pacing the person to a positive resolved state on even one event will produce a strong physiological response that is likely to give your colleague the good feelings and confidence to make the changes in other events. When the new habit of stopping anxiety before it gets going is in place, the ‘additiction’ to the negative chemicals produced from anxious behavior can be broken permanently. Drugs should not be necessary.

Get to the Core Programming

Here’s my last point. The NLP anxiety cure for one event is simple, quick and effective. Once a client experiences the positive states possible from a single event, she can run the pattern for herself as any new anxiety arises. What may be going on with your colleague is a deeper life pattern that could require a slightly longer coaching period and your NLP Coach can run time line processes that would be effective in unhooking the ‘gestalt’ or string of events that make up the bigger pattern in a fairly short perioid of time or number of coaching sessions. Your NLP Practitioner will want to check for and deal with secondary gain to the old life pattern and make sure the positive intent of the old behavior is satisfied in new ways.

BIll Thomason
NLP Success Coach
Certified NLP Trainer
www.nlpskills.com
www.nlplifecoachphoenix.com

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Coming Back From the Threshold
Sometimes both partners have reached some type of threshold. To bring people back from the threshold is obviously difficult and may take some time. The old advice of never going to bed mad is solid if the coach can also teach the couple to find positive states and anchor them so that they never leave an emotional conversation with some kind of neutralizing of the negative feelings. You will want to do as many things as possible to stack the deck on the positive side of the scales so that old negative anchors begin to lose their power and new anchor begin to habituate. Habituation here refers to a lessening of negative emotional response to repeated stimuli, and a strengthening of positive behaviors and feelings.

Reinforce Positive Behaviors
Card Game: Reinforce Everything that Supports the Behavior You Want More Of
Give each person 8 cards, 4 black and 4 red. Each partner gives a black card every time something they do or say reinforces positive feelings and partners give a red card every time something that is said or done hurts or annoys or is insensitive. This is really about listening. Assuming that you know what your partner wants is counter-productive to actaully finding out.
Tips to finding out:
- Check it out.
- Ask the partner.
- Be gullible and listen without judgment to whatever answers the partner gives.
- Remember, the answers are sacred to the person and that the partner is allowing enough vulnerability to express himself is critically important.
Another technique is to have each person imagine an ideal leisure weekend.
Anchoring Positive States
Some states you will want to anchor include appreciation, being cherished, respected, etc. and then begin to take opportunities to trigger attraction, enticement, and whatever adds spice to the relationship for that individual couple.

Four Qualities for Coming Back from Threshold
1. Know what you want and what your partner wants. Ask yourself what you care about, and what makes you feel loved, wanted, cared for, and respected. Express these desires. And, find out the same from your partner and satisfy them.
2. Be willing to be flexible enough to express and manifest your partner’s specific wants and needs the way they want to have them expressed. Satisfy what your partner says she wants it, the way she says wants them specifically satisfied. Not how you would want it. Check it out with her and be willing to believe exactly what she says is exactly what she wants
3. Have the sensory acuity (pay attention) to notice when subtle cues are communicating that your partner is slipping out of appreciation, attraction, and habituation and react appropriately.
4. Have the skills and commitment to bring yourself back to appreciation, attraction, and habituation. To do this, you may have to suspend your own defensive impulses and keep focus on the other person.
Maintaining the Good Feelings
According to Leslie Cameron-Bandler, in her book Solutions, as long as tthe four characteristics can be be
reinforced, the relationship can move towards and stay in a growing, loving, intensely caring mode over time. It just takes some time and dedication and a good coach can help each person in the relationship develop skills and patterns that support the ability to become more and more tolerant of differences and habituate to the new direction in the relationship.
Other Useful NLP Patterns and Learnings:
- Learn about Meta-Programs – these language and behavior patterns are the source of an amazing amount of mis-communication in relationships. Communicate the way your partner needs to get the information, not the way you would want it, even though you do feel like your partner is not listening to you. Listen to them first. Your own behavior is the only real place you can effective cause change to occur
- Anchoring – Anchor positive states, neutralize unresourceful states, habituating to new behaviors is an anchoring process
- Change Personal History – It is common that behavior patterns are visited from parents to children and whatever limiting core patterns are in place about relationship can be released and transformed so that new choices can be made in present time.
- Parts Integration – One or both partners may have splits in their programming that are sabotaging the ability to be present, caring, and appreciative in relationship.
- Six Step Reframe – Reframe limiting behaviors by finding the positive intent of the limiting behavior and then asking the Creative Part to generate new choices and strategies for dealing with life situations. When I come to the relationship integrated, the relationship has a much better chance of being integrated.
- Total Win Negotiating – Relationship involves an almost constant negotiation and the basic skills taught in the Total Win Negotiating workshop are useful if not critical for every couple. The mindset is that there’s almost always more on the table than people realize and most people are in negotiation fearing that they will lose something. In Total Win negotiation, you will make sure the other party’s interests are also satisfied. Skills include: dealing with conflict, separating the person from the problem, getting to the real issue, generating options, finding mutual solutions, knowing where your strength is in the negotiation.
- Belief Change Patterns – Beliefs follow a natural pathway of coming into being, evolving, and change. You can deal with the belief that the relationship is over and/or that the partner cannot provide what is necessary. Also reestablish the memory of how and why the relationship started.

These are some of the skills and patterns that I try to provide to coaching clients who are having relationship difficulties. For more information contact me at 602 321-7192 in Scottsdale, Arizona or email: nlpskills@earthlink.net.
By Bill Thomason
NLP Success Coach
Certified NLP Trainer

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Have you encountered someone who was so sure they were right that there was just very little opening for suggesting any new solutions? Maybe you have been in a conversation where the more you make your point the more the person digs in and won’t consider any options. We call them stubborn, except when the them is us. Most of us have been in a conversation (or argument) like this, and maybe it was with someone very close, like a parent or spouse. Were you frustrated? Did you feel powerless or ‘resourceless’ to find a way out it? People who are very certain, tend to be very convincing. There’s a lot of power in certainty and it also has downsides. So, how do you counter someone who is absolutely certain?

The NLP linguistic pattern is very simple. It would be useful to think of someone who was intimidating to you or very stuck in their point of view. Now, imagine the following conversation:

Person: Says something they are very sure or certain about.
You: Are you sure?
Person: Yes!
You: Are you sure you’re sure?
Person: Yes.
You: Are you sure enough to be UNSURE?
Person: Yes.
You: OK, let’s talk about this.

That was pretty simple, wasn’t it? And it is very powerful. I want to discuss the structure of the pattern and about ‘certainty’ in general in this article.

Now, before we begin, please take a moment to think of something you are very certain about personally. Note: Pick something that will not will not create a seriously negatively affect to your well being if you are no longer so certain. And you can find someone to ask you the set of questions (above). Carefully notice and explore your responses to each question as you answer. The idea here is to give you a ’tissue level’ (deep level, feel it your gut) experience of the impact of the pattern.

Certainty
A way to explore this topic is to think about ‘certainty.’ When I first heard an NLP trained associate talking about ‘certainty,’ I thought it was a strange topic. “There’s nothing certain in life” I told him, and I was wondering why an otherwise savvy NLP Coach would ask such a naïve question. Of course, there is no certainty. Don’t we all accept that already? I was being way too literal with him. Imagine my chagrin when he asked me, “Are you sure there is no certainty in life?” I said ‘yes.’ He asked, “Are you sure you’re sure?” At that point, I had to say that I thought I was sure, but I wasn’t all that sure that I was sure. If I had answered ‘yes’ again, I’m sure he would have asked, “Are you sure enough to be unsure.” And so on. As soon as there is a doubt about my certainty, there was no reason for my associate to take it another step. He had accomplished the purpose of the pattern.

Levels of Certainty
Let’s divide certainty into 3 levels.
Level A: Zero Certainty – There is no firm conclusion either way about whatever subject or understanding you are working with or attempting to influence. There is complete openness to considering options. It will be easy for a coach to work with a client at Zero Certainty and understanding is fluid.

Level B: Partial Certainty – This is a mid-range level of certainty and an individual at this level is at least partially open to new understandings and points of view. A client at this level would be slightly more difficult to work with or to convince than a client at Level A.

Level C: Absolute Certainty – Although it sounds like it would be great to live in absolute certainty, an individual at this level is going to be closed to even considering other understandings. The level of certainty locks up the ability to consider alternatives. This would be a common level among religious and/or political zealots. A client at this level would typically be very difficult to work with. Note that some people are absolutely certain they have no control over what happens to them, or that they have no ‘value,’ or that they are ‘no good’ or just ‘wrong.’

‘Certainty’ in Unresourceful Behaviors
Clients who come for coaching are often suffering from uncertainty. They say things like, “I don’t know what I’m going to do” or “I don’t know why I’m not being successful at work.” Presumably, a more difficult client may be saying things with more certainty like, “I know I can’t succeed” or “life has no meaning,” or when presented with a potential solution say, “I know that won’t work.”
I had a coaching client who presented with driving phobia. I wanted to see the phobia in action so I got in the passenger seat of her car. She was amazingly certain that she had hit someone on the street with her car when we passed a trash can on the street. No logic seemed to dissuade her belief. I had her drive around the block to check and still a big part of her was sure she had hit someone. Although NLPers tend not to use psychological labels, you can understand that the difficulty with a ‘paranoid’ person is not just that they think others are out to get them, it’s that they are convinced it is true. They do not question the reality and do not consider other possibilities. An airplane phobic may be consumed with pictures of crashing and burning so that no other thoughts are available to them. A person with a mild fear may imagine the same picture, but with a realization that it is extremely improbable. The “Are You Sure?” pattern is also closely related to NLP’s Metaprogram, Convincer Strategy, and to an inquiry into how people get convinced about things in general.

What the Pattern Does
Depending on how a person answers the questions in the “Are You Sure?” pattern above, you will be able to determine the level of certainty. For example, “Well, I’m pretty sure,” tells you the person is at Level B and you don’t need to push to the next step. You also want to ‘calibrate’ (pay attention to subtle body cues) for non-verbals. A ‘set jaw,’ a ‘fixed gaze,’ or a definitive hand gesture may tell you more than the words used. The question, “Are you sure you are sure?” applies certainty to itself recursively (using it back upon itself) and in effect is asking if the person is absolutely sure (Level C). If the person is Absolutely Certain, then what you are sorting for is to create a willingness to apply absolute certainty back on itself. NOTE: You may recognize ‘Apply to Self’ as on NLP ‘Sleight of Mouth’ pattern. You have been eliciting information to determine whether you have the conditions for Absolute Certainty in the first questions and when you are sure you have it, you are now ready for the last step. “Are you sure enough to be unsure’ applies certainty to its negation (a negative or contradictory statement). You have created a ‘logical paradox.’

Logical Paradox
The three ingredients of a logical paradox include:
1. An absolute statement
2. Recursion
3. Negation

In short, the pattern uses certainty recursively (back upon itself). We have set up a logical paradox that acts to perpetually refer back upon itself so that ‘what’s true’ is ‘false’ and ‘what’s false’ is ‘true.’ The thought of a logical paradox is difficult for people to deal with in that it challenges our ideas about certainty and reality itself. The only place for a brain to go is to adopt a Level B perspective and all the pattern is designed to do is create an openness.
“Enough’ is also important in the sentence. Enough presupposes a ‘threshold’ with regard to certainty. If the person says ‘no’, they are saying they are below the threshold of certainty and therefore they are not so certain. If they say ‘yes’, they are saying certainty has reached the level of threshold and that is ‘enough’ to allow themselves to be uncertain. If you are sure enough, you will be unsure. What is presupposed is that full certainty includes the ability to be unsure and for all intents stacks the two polar opposites nesting with each other.
So, here’s a closing question for consideration. Better to go away with more to question now that you have worked so hard to be certain you understood the argument and the positive intent of the pattern in the article above, wouldn’t you say? The question is, “Is there such a thing as Absolute Certainty? I’m certain some people would say ‘yes.’ Now a better question, at least in my opinion, is “Is certainty useful?” Certainty can be experienced. It has a feeling. You can think of an example of certainty and represent it and express it in sensory terms. In other words, you can elicit the submodalities (near/far, bright/dim, color/b&W, warm/cool, heavy/lightness, etc.) of certainty and associate them with positive outcomes. I wonder how many ways you can find to apply certainty to the states and abilities you most value in life?

-by Bill Thomason, NLP Success Coach, Certified NLP Trainer

Are you sure? is a post from: Life Coach Phoenix

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Contemplation: Who am I?

I realized something today that Empowered me and brought me to a place of Full awareness.

QUESTION: Do you know at any time, that you have the Power to change the dream?

If you Don’t like what you are seeing or getting then change YOUR dream!! It’s your creation…..

Awareness is about coming to the full Assurance of knowing who you are, awaking from the DREAM, and taking one’s place in the grand Scheme of things. We all are messengers who share the TRUTH with the lives that we lead. Do you like the message your life is telling? Once we see ourselves as we truly are, harmony begins to RETURN to our being, our planet and mankind.

Observation: When emotions go haywire

Once we reprogram our wrong thinking and have learned to master the dream and rule over our creation do we still have use for our emotions and instincts? If so are they trustworthy?
I believe the answer is yes, when we learn to listen instead of react to them. Our feelings were given to us to experience the beauty all around us for our delight, as well as a guide. Once we have moved past our previous programming, and experience FULL awareness we can confidently trust our emotions and instincts to guide us in every situation.

Think of it this way: Just as pleasure and pain tell the physical body that something is good or wrong; all emotions (negative and positive) along with our instincts are signals to the metaphysical body informing us that something is going on. The signals are just guides, and like all indicators we must go deeper to get to the bottom of it; and find its source.

Today I went through a whole thought process: I felt negative emotions rising up and right away I wanted to react to them, but I could not. Then my mind tried to deny them, just to protect me and give me some relief from the intense emotion, but I would not allow it. I meditated on the thought until finally I was able to listen to what was going on allowing the thought of the emotion to take me to the source of the pain.

First I wanted to make sure that I was seeing things clearly and wasn’t looking at the situation from an old mindset. I allowed my mind to bring every instance associate with this thought to mind and I began evaluating it, to what I knew as truth. Once I realized that I was seeing the situation clearly, I decided to take action!!

Now let me be absolutely CLEAR on the proper action that can be taken in any situation. First start with Yourself! To do that you just make sure that you are seeing the situation CLEARLY as it is, not as you are! If you are looking at things from an old mindset your view is distorted and you need to adjust the view.

What if you are seeing the situation for what it truly is, then what? Well then it’s time for you to take action. As I said above if you don’t like what you are seeing or getting then change the dream. You can’t expect other people to change to fit your dream, that isn’t respecting them. If the situation isn’t what you want or desire then change it. Make the decision to go in a new direction or get out of the situation, or both, but don’t sit there and do nothing. REMEMBER this is your dream, and it should reflect what you desire, not what others think it should. Also don’t try to change others to fit your dream, nor allow others to change you to fit theirs. Always start and end with You!!

As for me I chose to do both, and now I’m dreaming a new dream, one of my own choosing and desire.

I welcome all thoughts and comments about this post. Please free to add or give a different viewpoint of what was stated above:))
Sarah James

Bill Thomason
NLP Success Coach
Certified NLP Trainer
www.nlpskills.com

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