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The most common problem that some people encounter in doing this is that the troublesome picture becomes so large that it covers up the resources. The easiest way to avoid this is to gesture with both hands as you give instructions to your partner, first larger to indicate the size of the collage, and then much smaller to indicate the size of the problem image. Even then, sometimes the problem image becomes too large, and in that case you just stop them, back up the process and explain that the problem image needs to be smaller.
Another problem can arise if the problem image does not lie flat against the collage and become part of it. If the problem image remains separate from the resource images, it is likely to be seen in contrast to them, rather than together with them and as a part of them. This contrast usually emphasizes the problem even more, and increases the "tunnel vision" experience rather than decreasing it.
Finally, it's possible that the resources that you chose are inappropriate, so you can try choosing different resources.
Al: I was wondering about having more than four pictures.
Four is just a convenient number that usually works well. One woman who did this spontaneously had about eight pictures, like the petals of a large flower. The troublesome image then became the center of the flower. Most people think of pictures being rectangular, but there's nothing sacred about the shape, either. You could have circles or ovals, or round-cornered rectangles. You could also have them spread out top-to-bottom, or sideways in a long row.
I once saw a TV program in which Brian Weiss worked with a woman who had a phobia, using a process called "past-lives regression." After she was done, you could tell from her nonverbal response that she still had her phobia, but it didn't matter as much to her, because now she saw her present life as one small part of a long string of lives—many lives before, and many others to come. She gestured with her hands and arms to show this long string of lives. In the perspective of that long string of lives, her present life seemed very small, and the problems that she had in this life were even smaller. Personally, I have great doubts about the reality of past lives, and I'd rather just cure the phobia. However, it's an interesting example of using this kind of perspective pattern to change someone's response in a useful way. There are many ways to create this kind of perspective, but they all use the same principles. The key thing is to connect all the images together in the same location and plane.
Ben: You asked Mike to pick images, but you weren't specific about whether they were to be still images or movies.
It doesn't really matter, unless it matters to the person—and then they are likely to just go ahead and use whatever they prefer. The word "image" or "picture" allows them to get a visual representation in whatever way is easiest for them. If you ask for details, you often find that people have what first appears to be a still image, but it is one that can easily be expanded into a filmstrip or a movie. The still picture is a sort of summary or icon for all the information that is in the full movie.
Fred: You asked Mike to choose resources that were related to the problem image. Is that always a good idea?
I think it's usually a good idea, because the word "resource" is a very general term that can refer to a very wide range of experiences. We all have a great many resource experiences, and some are wonderful resources for one kind of problem and no use at all for another. A great resource for doing mathematics is not likely to be much use for skiing, and vice versa, so it's helpful to have a way to be selective.
On the other hand, someone may be thinking of a problem in such a narrow way that they will consciously discard resources that could be very useful. When you're inside a box, it can be very hard to think outside the box. Sometimes a far-out, totally "unlikely" resource is exactly what is needed to counteract the tunnel vision that automatically excludes it. One reason for asking his unconscious mind to participate fully in the selection process is so that his conscious mind can be prepared for the possibility that his unconscious will think of resources that his conscious mind might otherwise reject as inappropriate. Sometimes it can even be useful to ask the person to think of resources that are very unrelated to the problem image. With someone with a very contrary and overactive conscious mind, you could even ask them to select resources that they think couldn't possibly be useful.
Now I want you to pair up and assist each other in doing this. Take about five minutes each way, and another five to discuss what you experienced—fifteen or twenty minutes total.
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