In this extract from Richard Bandler’s bestselling book “Get The Life You Want”, Richard talks about the way that you can use good feelings to change the way you respond to the world.
One of my main focuses in the work that I’ve done has been discovering ways to help people achieve what I call Personal Freedom. Personal Freedom means having the freedom to be able to control your thoughts and to manifest the kinds of feelings you want in your life.
We are often imprisoned by the chains of our thoughts and we allow ourselves to think ourselves into problems. However, since most problems are created by our imaginations and are thus imaginary, all we need are imaginary solutions. So, here are some effective waysf controlling your thinkig for a change.
Think of a time when you felt really good and then start playing around with the qualities of the images, sounds and feelings. By changing the submodalities, you get to intensify the feeling.
For example, think of a time when you felt really, really good. Now, step inside that time and see through your eyes, hear though your ears, and feel the really good feeling all the way through your body. Make the images bigger, brighter, more colourful and you’ll probably find yourself feeling even better. Make the sounds louder and crisper and if there are no sounds, add sounds. Start to intensify the good feeling.
Next, find out where in your body the feeling starts and where it goes. Discover the directions it spins inside your body and spin it faster and faster, and, again, notice your feelings intensify. There lies the control you have over your brain to create powerful feelings inside of you.
You can then attach these feelings to other thoughts. If you keep the spinning feeling inside your body and you think about your future while it’s spinning, you will start to associate the feeling with your future. By doing this, you will start to feel better about your future…
…Similarly too, if you find yourself in a negative or unresourceful state, you can change it by changing the qualities of the feeling.
For example, think about somebody who annoys you, intimidates you or irritates you. Make an image of them and see them look at you. Hear them say whatever it is that they say and notice the bad feeling that happens in your body.
Next, take this image and make it black and white. Move it far off into the distance. Make it much smaller, one eighth its size. Place a clown’s nose on their face. Hear them say whatever it is that they say, but hear them say it in Mickey Mouse’s, Donald Duck’s, or Sylvester the Cat’s voice. This changes the feeling that you have towards them and allows you to deal with them with more confidence and effectiveness.
