Using Your Brain--For a Change

1. Your brain is always active: Learn to direct it purposefully

"Most people are prisoners of their own brains. It's as if they are chained to the last seat of the bus and someone else is driving. I want you to learn how to drive your own bus."

Take control of your mind. Your brain is constantly active, generating thoughts and experiences even when you're not consciously directing it. This automatic activity can lead to unproductive or negative patterns of thinking.

Harness your brain's power. By learning to consciously direct your thoughts, you can:

• Create more positive experiences
• Reduce negative rumination
• Improve problem-solving abilities
• Enhance creativity and productivity

Practical steps:

• Practice mindfulness to become aware of your thought patterns
• Actively challenge and redirect negative thoughts
• Visualize positive outcomes and experiences
• Set clear goals and focus your mental energy on achieving them

2. Submodalities: The building blocks of mental experiences

"Submodalities are literally the ways that our brains sort and code our experience."

Understanding submodalities. Submodalities are the specific sensory qualities of our internal representations. They are the building blocks of how we experience thoughts, memories, and imagined scenarios in our minds.

Key visual submodalities:

• Brightness
• Size
• Distance
• Color/black and white
• Focus/clarity
• Movement (still or movie)

Key auditory submodalities:

• Volume
• Tone
• Tempo
• Location of sound

Practical applications: By manipulating submodalities, you can:

• Change the emotional impact of memories
• Enhance motivation
• Reduce the power of phobias or negative associations
• Improve learning and recall

3. Changing perspective transforms understanding and behavior

"Are you still sure you were right?"

The power of perspective. How we view a situation dramatically affects our understanding, emotional response, and behavior. By consciously changing our perspective, we can gain new insights and change our reactions.

Techniques for changing perspective:

• Mentally step into another person's shoes
• View the situation from a distance (dissociation)
• Imagine the event from different physical viewpoints (above, below, etc.)
• Consider how the situation might look in a different time frame (e.g., "In 100 years, who will know the difference?")

Benefits:

• Improved empathy and understanding in relationships
• Reduced emotional reactivity
• Enhanced problem-solving abilities
• Greater flexibility in thinking and behavior

4. Motivation strategies: Move towards pleasure, not away from pain

"Most people motivate themselves by thinking about how bad they will feel if they don't do something, and then they move away from that bad feeling."

Positive vs. negative motivation. Many people use the threat of negative consequences to motivate themselves. However, this approach often leads to stress, anxiety, and procrastination.

Positive motivation strategy:

1. Visualize the desired outcome
2. Focus on the positive feelings associated with achievement
3. Break the goal into smaller, manageable steps
4. Celebrate progress along the way

Benefits of positive motivation:

• Increased enthusiasm and energy
• Improved persistence in the face of obstacles
• Enhanced creativity and problem-solving
• Greater overall satisfaction and well-being

5. Confusion is the doorway to new understanding

"Confusion is an opportunity to rearrange experience and organize it in a different way than you normally would."

Embrace confusion. Rather than viewing confusion as a negative state, recognize it as a sign that you're on the verge of learning something new. It indicates that your current mental models are being challenged and restructured.

Steps to leverage confusion:

1. Acknowledge the confusion without judgment
2. Identify what specific aspects are confusing
3. Seek out new information or perspectives
4. Experiment with different ways of organizing the information
5. Allow time for integration and reflection

Benefits:

• Accelerated learning
• Enhanced creativity and innovation
• Greater mental flexibility
• Improved problem-solving skills

6. Beliefs shape behavior: Change beliefs to change actions

"If you accept the idea that phobias can only be bad, that possibility would never occur to you. You can make pleasant responses just as strong and dependable as phobias."

The power of beliefs. Our beliefs act as filters through which we interpret the world and determine our actions. By changing our beliefs, we can dramatically alter our behavior and experiences.

Belief change process:

1. Identify the limiting belief
2. Determine how the belief is represented internally (submodalities)
3. Create a new, empowering belief
4. Use submodality shifts to weaken the old belief and strengthen the new one

Key considerations:

• Ensure the new belief is stated positively and as a process (e.g., "I can learn and improve" rather than "I am perfect")
• Check for potential negative consequences of the new belief
• Reinforce the new belief through consistent action and evidence-gathering

7. The Swish Pattern: A powerful technique for behavioral change

"The swish pattern directionalizes the brain."

Understanding the Swish. The Swish Pattern is a powerful NLP technique for changing unwanted behaviors or responses. It works by creating a compelling internal direction for your mind to follow.

Basic Swish steps:

1. Identify the unwanted behavior and its visual trigger
2. Create a compelling image of yourself without the problem
3. "Swish" the problem image into the desired self-image
4. Repeat the process several times, increasing speed

Key elements:

• Use powerful submodalities (e.g., size, brightness, distance)
• Ensure the desired self-image is motivating and achievable
• Practice the Swish quickly to leverage the brain's natural learning speed

Applications: The Swish can be used for various issues, including:

• Breaking bad habits
• Overcoming phobias
• Enhancing self-confidence
• Improving motivation

8. Learning is not about content, but about process

"Most studies of the learning process have been 'objective.' What NLP does is to explore the subjective experience of the processes by which people learn things."

Focus on the how, not just the what. Traditional education often emphasizes content knowledge, but understanding the process of learning is equally crucial. By mastering effective learning strategies, you can acquire new skills and knowledge more efficiently.

Key learning processes:

• Visualization techniques
• Memory strategies (e.g., chunking, association)
• Mind mapping
• Active recall and spaced repetition
• Teaching others

Benefits of process-focused learning:

• Improved retention and recall
• Enhanced ability to apply knowledge in new contexts
• Increased learning speed and efficiency
• Greater adaptability to different subjects and skills

9. Memory techniques: Organize information for easy recall

"If you study people who have phenomenal memories, you find out that they do some really interesting things."

Effective memory strategies. Memory isn't just about raw storage capacity; it's about organizing information in ways that make it easy to recall when needed.

Key memory techniques:

• Visualization: Create vivid mental images
• Association: Link new information to existing knowledge
• Chunking: Group related pieces of information
• Mnemonic devices: Use acronyms, rhymes, or stories
• Mind palaces: Organize information spatially in your mind

Practical tips:

• Use multiple senses when encoding memories
• Create unique and distinctive associations
• Review and reinforce memories at spaced intervals
• Apply the information practically to strengthen recall

10. Reframe "learning disabilities" as teaching opportunities

"I never liked the idea of children being 'educationally handicapped,' because I never thought that reading was primarily genetic."

Challenge assumptions about learning. Rather than labeling students with "learning disabilities," focus on finding effective teaching methods that work for each individual's unique learning style.

Strategies for addressing learning challenges:

• Identify the student's preferred learning modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
• Break down complex tasks into manageable steps
• Use multi-sensory teaching approaches
• Leverage the student's strengths and interests
• Provide frequent feedback and encouragement

Benefits of this approach:

• Increased student confidence and motivation
• Improved learning outcomes
• Reduced stigma and negative self-perception
• Enhanced problem-solving skills for both teachers and students

Last updated: March 11, 2025