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

Role model

A variation of other position is to take the position of a particularly sensitive, skilled, experienced, or spiritually enlightened person who observes an event, and is able to perceive it and respond to it based on their particular knowledge or expertise. �If

I were able to experience this situation out of the eyes of, what would I see, hear, and feel that is different from how I view it now?� This is a great way to discover useful information that has been unconsciously learned and recorded, but categorized as belonging to someone else. This information can be very useful in making behaviors and responses more effective�not only interpersonal skills, but other skills like playing a sport or a musical instrument. (23, ch. 3)

The three fundamental �perceptual positions� are self, observer, and other: each provides a different scope that can be useful in problem-solving, and using all three in turn provides a rich and balanced perspective. The usefulness of taking on these different perceptual positions can be greatly enhanced by a process called Aligning Perceptual Positions, developed by Connirae Andreas (1). Connirae found that people rarely or never have the three positions sorted out cleanly in space. Each position may have feelings, thoughts, voices, etc, that actually belong in one of the other positions. This process examines each position to find out what doesn�t belong there in order to move it into the appropriate location in space.

For instance, the observer may have feelings that actually belong in �self position, or the �self position may have a critical voice that belongs to some other person. In any position a voice may be heard in the head or outside the body, when it really belongs in the throat, etc. Realigning these misplaced aspects of experience allows you to make much better use of each position to gather accurate information.