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I would like to demonstrate this pattern in the visual system with someone who has an image that still troubles you in some way. I don't need to know anything about the content; you can keep that to yourself. (Mike comes up.) So, Mike, you have an image that when you think about it, it still bothers you, right? Try it right now, just to check to be sure it still bothers you... (Mike's breathing becomes shallower, and his body becomes still.)
Mike: Yeah. Not a lot, but it still does.
OK, take that picture and just set it aside somewhere. Now I want you to think of four resource experiences, one at a time, perhaps ones that you think might be particularly useful in relation to that image that still bothers you. And I'd like your unconscious mind to participate fully in this selection process. I want you to develop an image for each of these four resources, one that fully represents each of them. Let me know when you have those four images... (Mike nods.)
Now I want you to take these four images, and make each of them about 18" high, and 18" wide, and then place them together so that you can see all four pictures at once in a large collage about three feet in front of you. Some people like to imagine that they put Velcro on the back of the images so when they place them they can hear that little sound that Velcro makes when it sticks, and know that they will stay put. When you have all four up there together, it will be a little harder to see the details of what's in each one, but you'll still know what's there. Take whatever time you need to set that up, and let me know when it's ready... (Mike nods.)
Great. Now keeping this collage intact, I want you to take that image that we started with that still bothered you, and place it right in the middle of that collage, so that it covers up just the inner corners of those four resource pictures where they meet in the center of the collage. You may want to adjust the size of that troubling image a bit so that it lies flat and becomes part of the collage, leaving most of those four resource pictures visible. Then notice how you respond to that troublesome image in the context of those four resources...
Mike: It takes the "juice" out of it.
So there's less feeling response to it, is that right? (Mike: Yes.) So that is a decrease in the intensity, the amount of the feeling. Does it also change the quality, the kind of response you have, in any way?
Mike: Well, I guess the quality of my response is more one of understanding, rather than reaction.
When you have understanding, that often leads to some kind of potential solution, so that you can see a path out of it.
Mike: Oh yeah. I was already working on solutions. What was bothering me was the strength of my reaction to it.
So now you feel a more comfortable response to it. Is that going to make finding a solution easier? (Mike: Yeah.)
Do you have any questions you'd like to ask Mike? And Mike, of course you have the choice to not answer any questions that you'd prefer not to.
Ann: You said you were already working on a solution to this situation?
Mike: Yes, I was working on a solution; I knew there was a solution to the problem. What I was uncomfortable about was that my reaction to the situation kind of set off a bell. "Why am I having such a strong reaction to this? Clearly I can work out a solution, but what else is going on?"
Fred: Did you access four different experiences, or four different states of mind?
Mike: I had images of four different experiences that I'd had before.
Fred, I think your question is really for me, and it's an opportunity to make a point that I think is very important in all our work. The way I think of it, the images result in what you might call a state of mind. If I ask you to access a state of mind, for instance "excitement," how do you go about doing that? Most people will spontaneously think of a specific experience that they respond to with a specific kind of excitement. The word "excitement" is a fairly general term that could apply to a wide variety of different feelings in different situations. A lot of therapies and other personal change methods stay in the realm of these more general terms, and that makes it very hard to elicit the specific responses that will actually result in behavioral change. When you talk in general terms, the result is general understandings that usually don't result in an actual change in response. So-called "intellectual understanding" is one example of this.
Let's take a very simple example. I want you all to salivate now, just by focusing your attention on your mouth... That's pretty hard for most people, because "salivation" is just a word, so you don't get a very strong response. Salivating becomes much easier if you vividly imagine cutting open a bright yellow lemon with a sharp knife, seeing the glistening surface of the cut lemon with some drops of lemon juice dripping, and then imagine bringing one half of the lemon up to your mouth and squeezing some of the juice into your mouth and tasting it. That's using very concrete imagery to elicit what is usually a very unconscious response, which you don't get just by saying "salivate." Likewise, the process of setting up the visual perspective pattern is a mostly conscious process, but the response you get is unconscious and spontaneous.
Sally: Mike, did the submodalities of the problem image change?
Mike: Yes. It got dimmer, and less colorful—overall less intense.
Good question. What we have done here is one very simple way to teach the use of simultaneous perspective in the visual system, by assembling different experiences and putting them together in a particular way. Thanks, Mike. Here's an outline of this very simple process.
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