The language you speak without even knowing it

Our problems are schemes . They act in the established order, which is invariably repeated every time we encounter them. How to use your own subconscious programming system to influence your thoughts, feelings and actions?

Think about what you really, really love . About something simple, for example, about cupcakes, kittens, or the formation of books on the shelf of books with an ideal rainbow. For a few seconds, consider the mental image of this object or phenomenon.

Is the picture color or black and white? Where exactly is it located on your inner screen (left, right, top, bottom, in a fixed center)? Is she big or small? Is the image far or close? Is it moving or static? Light or dark?

Now think about what you really, really don't like. For example, about cockroaches, spiders and more ... Look at the available image and ask yourself the same questions. These two pictures will not be identical.

The insignificant and automatic difference between these visual representations largely determines the types of behavior that you are likely to demonstrate when faced with similar phenomena. This mental coding system works constantly and is extremely powerful, but it doesn’t even occur to many of us that it exists until we are asked to analyze our own thoughts.

How different do we see things

What you encounter, like your every thought, is classified and at a subconscious level associated with a certain combination of sensory characteristics, like the ones you just received. Your mind acts in such a way that in the future you recall what feelings this thing should evoke in you. The above example looks at visual representations, but in the same way, your whole sensory experience can be broken down into subcategories. It's a bit of a personalized character language that you speak fluently from birth. In neuro-linguistic programming, these characteristics are called submodalities.

Modalities are feelings: visual (sight), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (touch), olfactory and taste. In this article, we will seriously discuss only the first three of them, because they are easier to access, and they are usually used to make changes.

The word "submodalities" refers to methods for sharing and classifying information from each of the modalities of the senses. In essence, submodalities are parameters of your thoughts, it is a special approach to how you look at an image, hear a sound or perceive a sensation.

Why is it so useful to extract this information (both for the therapist and for yourself)? You can manipulate submodalities by helping your mind relate to things differently. For example, if the author could see his inner image of cockroaches using a set of submodalities corresponding to the picture with a fluffy kitten, he would probably be able to write this article without the grimace appearing on his face every time he uses the word “cockroaches” ".

How does all this determine our perception of life?

All this applies not only to our internal visualization, but is also used by the subconscious to filter and evaluate the experience gained in interacting with the outside world. The coding of submodalities is something that happens even before the information obtained through the senses reaches our consciousness.

So, by the time you understand that you are looking at a kitten, your subconscious mind has already decided to draw up the incoming information in accordance with your “cat's” set of submodalities. This, in turn, leads to the fact that you do not have to, every time you see a new kitten, decide what feelings it causes you. You always know what the pre-programmed response to the kittens will be, so if nothing interrupts your normal behavioral pattern, you will simply do as usual. Thus, the system of submodalities saves a lot of time and energy, eliminating the need to evaluate, and then select the appropriate model of attitude to the world.

Submodalities can be invaluable information for solving someone's emotional or behavioral problems. Our problems are schemes. They act in the established order, which is invariably repeated every time we encounter them. It looks like this:

• the trigger is triggered first (usually this is something related to the environment, what we see / hear / feel / smell / try);
• then follows the selection process, during which our brain decides which segment of the previous experience should include the impression that has appeared (“this is the same thing that already happened then”);
• this creates an emotion related to a given thing (“inner feeling”) based on a choice;
• finally, all this determines the behavior that we demonstrate as a result.

Consider the problem with bosses as an example. Imagine a person who becomes excited and loses the ability to speak coherently every time the boss asks him a direct question. Subsequently, finding himself at a safe distance from the boss, he returns to normal and reproaches himself for behaving like a dumb idiot (again!).

All this happens because the subconscious mind shapes the image of the boss using a combination of submodalities, saying: “Fear it” or “Danger!”. This is probably due to the fact that it connects the current environmental factor (boss) with a terrible childhood memory. For example, with a too picky school teacher. And although the boss is completely different from that teacher, the subconscious helpfully combines them into one category - things that should be avoided. Just to be safe.

Practical use

There are literally hundreds of different ways to use or manipulate submodalities that allow you to make positive changes. They form the basis of all thoughts, so the possibilities here are spread much wider than the banal “like / dislike”.

Submodalities of bodily sensations can be adapted to reduce the intensity of pain in people with chronic illnesses (or a simple headache caused by stress ). You can also influence the worldview, shift the values ​​so that the phenomena subconsciously appear at different levels of significance. This means: you can actually find yourself performing actions that you previously avoided, or discover that you are no longer doing what you would like to refuse.

The manipulation of submodalities is usually used by persons aware of them for instant release from negative emotions (for example, from anxiety or anger). This is a fantastic tool for actors and athletes.

Probably, understanding of this coding system should be taught back in elementary school. It is extremely simple and strong, although many of us are not even aware that we can easily influence our attitude to things.

How to manipulate your thought process

To change your submodality sets, you need:

• first identify and analyze the outline of the problem you want to solve;
• consider what modalities it presents;
• and then extract the submodalities of these thoughts and modify them.

“DO NOT SPORT ALL !!!” - a negative dialogue with oneself

In the classroom with athletes, this occurs again and again. In many cases, just before an athlete makes an unnecessary mistake (sends a golf ball into the trees, makes a double mistake when serving in tennis or misses a penalty in football), he can hear in his head a voice saying something like “ You will ruin everything! ”Or“ This is really important, so do not ruin everything! ”Both phrases, of course, usually lead to the same disastrous results.

Of course, not all of us hear the voice before making a mistake. Some just get the feeling, for others, the same role is played by the mental picture. Sometimes a combination of all these phenomena occurs. However, if the factor is the inner voice, the blame for the resulting behavior (for the error) partially lies with the set of submodalities.

Example: the excitement of a golfer at a peg

Right before the golfer prepares to make a shot at the crucial moment of the competition, a voice sounds in her head: “Do not spoil everything!” After these words, she has a bad feeling about it, as if she knows what will happen, and then the girl necessarily makes a mistake.

Since the problem diagrams “light up” in their established order, breaking this connection — by installing something like a breaker — you can prevent the rest of the circuit from “breaking out”. This means that different outcomes will appear. A deliberate change in submodalities is one of the available ways to carry out such a “diversion”.
The most obvious element suitable for a change in the case of a golfer would be a voice. We could also consider submodalities of a bad presentiment, but since a voice appears earlier, having aimed at it, you will kill two birds with one stone.

Highlight a set of voice submodalities by answering the following questions.

• Audio submodalities variables:
• Localization: where does the sound come from (left, right, top, back, bottom, front)?
• Does it sound inside or outside your head?
• Volume: loud or quiet?
• Texture: soft or rough?
• Tone: high or low?
• Timbre: does he have any distinctive features (for example, squeaky like Mickey Mouse)?
• Duration: short or long?
• Pace: fast or slow?
• Distance: near or far?

Having a combination of variables, she can change them one by one to understand what traits affect the feeling triggered by the voice. Usually, 1-2 submodalities give a significant difference, and most of the rest bring insignificant results or do not affect the situation at all. Those that significantly change the situation are called “engines”.

Localization is a common engine. Imagine that our golfer noticed the appearance of a serious difference after transferring the voice source from the right half of the head to the left. Usually, right after a change in the submodality engine, in a negative dialogue with yourself, it begins to seem to you that the voice is losing its power. He may become inappropriate or even stupid in a new place.

As you can see, other submodalities will change automatically after changing the engine. For example, after moving the voice to the right, it may seem to our golfer that he is further away or sounds quieter. In the end, the only thing that really matters is that you feel different (feel better).

Armed with this information, the athlete is able to withstand the old negative voice, taking a second to move it to the right. If the engine were a tone, she could make it lower or, conversely, increase it to change the result. If we were talking about pace, we could, accordingly, accelerate it or slow it down. In fact, there are no rules; you should continue your efforts until you see the changes. Then you get the result.

Changing submodality leads to the temporary removal of self-doubt, which is the root of the problem. This frees the window of freedom from old restrictions, and now it can be used to concentrate on something more useful, for example, on visualizing a ball moving in the right direction. She could see a similar picture with a set of submodalities associated with success or ease, to really increase her chances of a good hit.
This language can be used to get rid of conflicting feelings, exciting images or distracting sounds. Sometimes making changes becomes a tool that you use further. In other situations, it is enough to do this just a few times so that the subconscious mind decides to make the modification constantly and automatically.

Part of the effect of such a process is that it allows you to regain a sense of control, and even control your sensations. We tend to think that we are in the grip of our own emotions, so regular use of practice proving the opposite can greatly increase self-esteem.

PS We recommend another article on the topic - How to disable internal criticism and ignore the pursuit of excellence?

The author of the translation is Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult .