Steve Andreas > Books Authored > Six Blind Elephants > Chapter 7

Consequences

Directing attention to the consequences of an event increases the scope of time and space into the future. The additional information this provides may change how we categorize and respond to an event. For instance, asking a parent to think about the impact of their present behavior on their children�s future life may motivate them to rethink what they are doing, and consider changing it.

When someone gets upset and goes �ballistic� it can be useful to point out that when they get so emotional it makes it really easy for the other person to focus on their intense response, and dismiss their concerns as unreasonable. �Oh, he gets so upset; I can�t talk to him when he�s like that.� That additional scope can provide powerful motivation to stay calmer, so that the other person will be able to hear and respond to the complaint.

When pleasant events in the present lead to pleasant consequences, there is no problem. But sometimes a pleasurable behavior leads dependably to unpleasant consequences, like overweight, hangovers, accidents, and other unwanted results. Being able to vividly imagine those future consequences can be a major factor in being motivated to easily and congruently refrain from present temptation, what is often called �willpower.� The same is true of the reverse situation�when present tasks are unpleasant, but they result in desirable outcomes. A larger scope of time can make motivation to continue with a difficult task much easier, a topic that I have discussed in detail elsewhere. (4, Ch. 15)

My father died when I was nine years old. One consequence of that was that as I grew up I had only my mother to advise me, and there were many things I had to learn on my own, by trial and error. I hated it at the time, and felt very unlucky. However, as a result I became quite experienced at going into an area that I knew nothing about, asking a lot of stupid questions, and eventually becoming quite skillful and successful. Now, looking back on my youth I feel quite lucky to have had the opportunity to learn how to do that, despite the discomfort at the time.

Many people who are troubled by �impulsive� behavior that does not include the scope of future consequences either don�t see very far into the future, or the future that they do see is so far away that it has very little impact. One impulsive client saw �tomorrow� as a very small gray still photo, a city block distant, so it had almost no impact on her present. That made it very difficult for her to do any planning that involved the future.

In contrast, a man who taught long-range planning seminars saw 5 years in the future about 12� in front of his nose, 10 years at 18� and 15 years at 24�. He also saw these images as fairly large 3-D movies in color, so they were very real to him, and they had a big impact on his present decisions.

The way someone�s scope in time extends into their past and future is called their �timeline,� and its location and shape has a big impact on their decisions and behavior. For example, some peoples� future is located above them or behind them, nearly or completely out of sight. If someone�s past is behind them, rather than off to the side, it may be very hard for them to learn from past mistakes. If someone�s unpleasant past is right in front of them, it may be very hard for them not to dwell on it and be depressed. Those are just two of many other possibilities; many other aspects of timelines are discussed elsewhere (13, ch. 1 & 2)

Recently I worked with a woman who had a phobia of driving at night, the result of a late night crash in which she was injured. She could drive in the daytime without distress, but at night she recalled an image of the oncoming car and flashed back to her fear just before the crash. Rather than use the standard NLP phobia cure, which changes the scope in space, I decided to explore how useful it would be to ask questions to expand her scope in time instead.

First I asked her if she was satisfied with her behavior in response to the oncoming car, and found that she was. She was alert to the danger, and had quickly and automatically steered away from the oncoming car, but hadn�t been able to avoid the crash. (If she hadn�t been satisfied with her response, I would have asked her to think of what she could have done differently, and rehearsed this new response.) This shifted her instantaneous image of the oncoming car to a short movie that included her skillful attempt to avoid the crash, a change in scope that made her feel stronger.

Then I pointed out that she was a competent driver who had done all she could in a very difficult situation, so if a similar situation ever happened in the future, she knew what to do, and could be confident that she would do it quickly and automatically. Her nonverbal posture changed, indicating a much more resourceful response. Although I didn�t ask, I assume that she recategorized her experience in some way, for instance from something like �fear and vulnerability,� to �competence in a very difficult situation.�

Then I asked her to expand her short movie of the oncoming car to a much longer movie that included all the subsequent events beyond the crash itself, including her eventual recovery from her injuries, and her ability to drive comfortably during the day and early evening. These simple changes in scope changed her response from agitated fear to calm competence.