Tools I Use When Diagnosing Specific Metaphors

I’ve been asked about the diagnostic tools I use when diagnosing specific metaphors for clients with deep issues that are effecting many areas of their life.

One thing to understand about these particular clients is they do not come to me instead of their GP or before trying everything the NHS or health professionals can give them. They come to me after everything else has NOT WORKED for them.

Admittedly, my typical client in this bracket is on no drugs at all when they come and see me – having given up using them because the drugs were not curing anything, just hiding the symptoms behind a numbed mind. This might mean they are in some way more resolute than the norm. However, now they have come off the drugs that kept their mind sedated but without the symptoms, those symptoms of panic, general anxiety, worries, flashbacks, and depressingly negative thoughts have returned. But this time they want to try an alternative to drug-therapy. These clients have often tried Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) but found they were among the high percentage for whom CBT is ineffective.

It does seem the NHS may be pretty impoverished if the only choices they have for people like this is either to see a psychiatrist – who only gives drug-therapies; or a psychologist – who these days only offers CBT. See this article in the Times Online: Therapies That Help Are Being Ignored

By the way, I don’t have anything against CBT. I learned the principles of CBT over a decade ago and taught it within the Coping With Stress courses I developed. However, I found (as does everyone else who uses it with clients) not everyone is able to use the tools effectively so I continued my search for tools that would help those people.

The diagnostic tools I use with these particular clients… There are two.

One uses ideomotor responses and the other Voice Technology. An ideomotor reflex is an unconscious movement or physical response. Examples would be a nervous eye twitch, or when someone tries to look and sound happy but their sad eyes give them away. Ideomotor responses are often used in Hypnosis to gain insight from the person’s subconscious mind by asking for (or suggesting) an involuntary physical response which would indicate a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer from the subconscious mind.

I set up a suggested involuntary response while the person is completely awake and conscious and use this to get 'yes' and 'no' answers without having to put my client into any kind of trance. The results can be surprising to the conscious mind! Yet, when the client goes along with the metaphor the subconscious has indicated, then (within minutes and without the conscious mind having to believe in the metaphor) real healing and progress is made.

Such is the power of the subconscious mind. In these sessions the client's own subconscious mind takes control of what work we do and which therapeutic methods are most appropriate – making progress even quicker. There are no psychological ‘models’ to get in the way, and I find the client’s mind often creates new ways to integrate many therapeutic methods (combinations of NLP, Time Line Therapy, EMDR, etc.) to produce outstanding results.

The other diagnostic method, Voice Technology, was devised by the founder of Thought Field Therapy, Dr Roger Callaghan, so clients can get the same help over the telephone. You know that a lie detector will measure your pulse, sweating, and voice patterns (these are all ideomotor responses) to establish if you are lying or not. This is because emotions and thoughts in the subconscious often have an ideomotor effect on the body and your body cannot help but change in ways which can be measured! These ‘signals’ may be too subtle for normal detection by our eyes and ears, but if we can find a way to ‘tune in’ to them we can measure truth from deception, yes from no.

Voice Technology is a way of tuning in to those subconscious signals – via the voice over the telephone. And once calibrated, we can start the diagnosing of metaphors (and other things) via a different (but just as precise) ideomotor response mechanism.

So does that answer the question of what methods I use for diagnosing the metaphors my clients use for their own healing - or have I made it as clear as mud? Let me know.

Be well

Colin :-)

The Self Improvement Community

Hi

I'm going to do another blog post on Metaphors, but first I'd like to put right a little error in a previous post.

One of my earlier posts (SICIC Premature) I mentioned that the Self Improvement Community Interest Company (SICIC for short) is situated at www.self-improvement.org.uk This is no longer the case.

SICIC has a little website at www.sicic.co.uk, where you will find a few details about what it is and what it is trying to do. Eventually, there will be a lot more information there, including highlights of what SICIC has done over the year for the community.

SICIC has created, as it's first project, a community website for everyone interested in personal growth, self help and/or personal & spiritual development. SICIC.org the main portal for people to become involved with what SICIC is doing, and to find out about future courses, workshops, research and other events and activities the Community Interest Company has planned.

See you at www.sicic.org

Colin :-)

Diagnosing Your Metaphor

The use of metaphor - in the form of creative and imaginative but simple analogies, anecdotes, parables, myths or stories - can be a very powerful therapeutic tool.

Recently I’ve been wondering how to reconcile the different philosophical leanings of my friends; some of whom are pretty straight with a belief in science and psychology but feel that chakras, angels, and new-age stuff is just fluffy nonsense, and others who truly believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

You might think that I should just fall on one side or the other – become connected with my divine self, and communicate with my higher self and soul and wear crystals to protect myself from astral entities and pray to the Arch Angels; or only believe in the supremacy of science and nothing exists outside it.

The problem arises when science, and medical science in particular, fails to provide a remedy to a chronic condition; yet a non-scientific method based on dowsing comes up with a weird scenario of what the condition is at its core – and the prescription of visualisation and messing around with the chakras WORKS!

Of course, the psychologist will be quick to explain away the phenomenon by saying that the person must have wanted a remedy so bad that their HOPE made them suggestible and therefore their BELIEF made their subconscious mind do the back-flip it needed to cause a cure.

The problem with this kind of explanation – often said with a non-malicious but quite evident sneer – is that it totally undermines the person’s experience. The scientifically unproven tool of dowsing (in whatever form) is immediately brandished as pseudoscience and unreliable so the person is also brandished a fool (by association) by the science believing friend. After such a demolishing of the basis of the person’s cure, it is a wonder the remedy (remember it was only based on a HOPE in the first place according to the psychologists explanation) doesn’t wither and die so they end up in the same state they were previous to the remedy (possibly for many years without any help from science).

This isn’t supposed to be a blog bashing science. What I want to explore is the possibility that Metaphor is more powerful than we might imagine.

You see, one way of looking at the concepts of the soul, chakras, angels, entities and other things that are unseen but some people believe in strongly, is to say: maybe they are metaphors.

In Hypnotherapy, we use metaphors a lot. The subconscious mind somehow gets the message and does the necessary work. One such metaphor is to imagine that a vacuum cleaner made of light is driving through our blood vessels and sucking up any viral infection or unwanted (diseased or cancerous) cells. Of course, there is not REALLY a tiny vacuum cleaner, so we say the subconscious mind activates our white blood cells or other mechanisms that science can agree to, and thus our blood is cleansed.

So we use a metaphor the subconscious mind can utilise as a catalyst for change and every psychologist will agree that this is how it works.

Back to the person with the dowsing, or other diagnostic method, that comes up with some weird and wonderful explanation for our malady. Maybe what they are diagnosing is the best metaphor for our circumstances? Maybe the mind uses metaphor to a much greater extent than we previously thought?

Some of my friends are going to be upset with me for ‘explaining away’ their hard-held beliefs as metaphors, but I think this is actually a really exciting possibility. If Angels, for instance, are not real in the scientific sense, but metaphorical, then we do not have to PROVE their existence. However, being USEFUL metaphors, they play an important role in being a catalyst for change.

The mind is exceptionally powerful, and it can not only cure us of chronic disease (having been given a metaphor to work with) but it can also change our personality – making us more confident, assertive, dynamic, positive, and even charismatic – when it takes the message from a metaphor.

I have been experimenting with diagnostic techniques lately (although more sophisticated than dowsing) and finding it extremely useful to explore weird and wonderful metaphors so as to find one that really works for individual clients. At the end of the day, I could fall on the side of my science based friends and say I’m too much of a professional coach and therapist to use such metaphors – and limit the healing of clients – but my compassion is too strong to do this. It looks like I’ll just have to stay on that metaphorical fence.

Be well

Colin :-)

Power of Mind

The subconscious mind is so creative, masterful and resourceful that it is hard to believe how powerful it actually is. Psychologists have proven that the mind is so immensely powerful that it can create sunburns on one side of the face without any sun, or produce the symptoms of any disease where there is no cause (no virus or bacteria etc.), and can even make a person die for no more reason than they were told they would (by a witch doctor) or for some other reason they believe they are going to die.

The mind – and really I'm talking about the subconscious mind here – can also heal ailments that have been said to be impossible to heal. People are now walking around who were told they would never walk again; people are alive ten-twenty years after a prognosis of death within a few months; people have overcome cancer and every other kind of incurable or terminal illness.

There are literally thousands (if not tens of thousands) of medical cases that have the words “Immediate Remission” written at the end to designate an inexplicable healing of a condition that was thought to be chronic or incurable. Many of these statements of “Remission” hide the fact that due to the little or no real help with the condition from the medical profession (other than drugs with hideous side effects that cover up some of the symptoms but not curing any causes to the problem so leaving the person in as just a mess as when they went to see their GP/MD but with slightly more bearable numbness rather than chronic pain) the patient has turned (at their own expense) to Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM).

Many CAM therapies have their own theories and philosophies about dis-ease and the healing process. These philosophies sometimes contradict and confound medical scientific research. The scientists cannot find any way of reconciling these theories with their hard scientific methods.

Yet, the NHS did a clinical trial on Spiritual Healing* (in partnership with the NFSH) where everyone involved (except the Healers) were astounded at the 80% success rate in providing measurable benefit (the other 20% died more dignified deaths but cannot be included in the success rate) for people with terminal cancer - where no more medical hope of recovery was available. Unfortunately, after the three year trial and then two year wait for the statistical analysis, the whole of the trial documentation was mysteriously lost. I know all this because I was a Trustee of the NFSH at the time and met healers involved in the trial.


Despite the alternative philosophies and the non-scientific approach to medicine, many CAM practitioners have better success rates than the drugs industry.

* Also the Which? consumer magazine's Best Buy!
* Penny Brohn Cancer Care in Bristol has a team of NFSH healers working with patients.
* University College Hospital London has recruited another two NFSH healers to join its CAM team and work in its Cancer/Haematology unit.
* For a longer list of Healers working within the NHS go to the NFSH website
There are ways of overcoming the dichotomy of 'science v CAM' and I’ll discuss that in my next post, right here.

Be well

Colin :-)

Biggest Barrier?

One of the biggest barriers people face when it comes to their personal growth, is that they are more likely to do absolutely anything and everything other than work on themselves. This is one of the great tragedies of the world as far as I am concerned. The fact that you have come to this blog – to learn about self improvement and develop your self-awareness puts you head and shoulders above the majority of the population.

Even those who come to the correct conclusion that personal growth is a good thing, find it extraordinarily hard to do any of it on themselves. They are very willing and able to go to University and learn everything there is to know about helping others. But when it comes to working on themselves in any way more meaningful than for career development – well, they are too busy learning about how to help others.

There is a myriad of things we can use to distract ourselves from taking a close look at ourselves. Everywhere we turn there is something screaming for our attention - politics, disasters & crisis, fashion, economics, inflation, housework, lifestyle, education & CPD, friends & family, internet & social networking, emails, crime & grime, local issues, regional issues, country issues, global issues, terrorism, activism (the same as terrorism according to the police), National ID cards (did you know the council will be able to fine you if you cannot produce it?), advertising boards, advertising everywhere... and the list is endless!

When I was teaching at a college not so long ago, I found myself in an impossible position with too much to do and more being asked of me. I realised I needed to prioritise my time and make sure whatever was most important got done (since there was no-one to help me) so I went to the supervisor and asked what was the PRIORITY? She said it was ALL priority!! And it can feel like this for most people, I feel, when we are asked to do so much with our limited time and take into account so many issues... and more demands upon our time, our attention and our pocket, just keeps coming at us daily.

It wasn't my intention when I started this entry, but I now feel like I need to go on a little retreat. And it is almost as if we need to be on retreat before we can have the time and energy to look at ourselves, and start the journey of awareness that is needed for deep personal growth.

Be well and have fun :-)

Self Awareness IS the Foundation

Hi

What do we stand for, what do we value, and what type of person we aspire to be?

Self awareness is a great starting point for developing self esteem and building confidence. Self awareness may also be the foundation that needs to be rebuilt if our personal development seems to take a backward step at any point.

Personal Values for Self Improvement

Self awareness can help us to know where we are now, so we can make better decisions on where we want to go next. In other words, if we have no self awareness then we are lost!

Before we decide upon what we want, we should first ask ourselves 'what do I value in life?'.

Usually, we do not realize what we value until it is gone. Sometimes familiarity with something, or someone, decreases the value we once saw there. It is prudent therefore, to decide upon what we value before we lose it forever.

Self awareness success tool:

Ask yourself - what do you value and why?

Then,

Priorities your top twelve

We can often tell what a person values by how much time they give to it; so how much time do you give to the things you value?

Now you can use this list as a guide to action in the future, and to help you prioritize your goals.

There is an old saying that goes 'If you want something, you must first give it away'. What this is saying, is that if we want to be appreciated, then it is no good taking others for granted. If we want to be popular, then we need to ask ourselves, do we recognize others?

If you value a quality - give it away!

Block Stopping Goals and Acheivement

I has been trying to establish a new website called sicic.org for some time.
If you have been to this website over the past few months, you may have seen reference to it.

The truth is, although I had these plans and goals - and I completely believe goals are a hugely beneficial personal development tool - I also had to learn a few things about being unable to work on them. At first, it seemed I was just being lazy and not putting enough effort into it. Then it became harder and harder to focus, or find the energy to go forward with my plans, and at every corner there were blocks to progress - within me and in the outside world. Even the simplest things seemed to take enormous amounts of effort and still didn't work out the way I wanted, if at all.

So the website still is not ready - it isn't even fully functional, never mind the content.... But maybe we are coming to the end of this saga, as I have learned lots about what stops some people from being motivated and also been finding what works - and what doesn't - when it comes to overcoming huge obstacles to attaining our goals.

You might not recognize what I am talking about in this paragraph if you have never experienced it - but if you do, please be assured that you are not alone - and there IS a way through. You may have to check to see if your symptoms are similar to this:

• Physiological reactions to looking into the future (such as flinching).
• Unable to see anything of the future or a reaction to trying to look (such as flinching).
• A compulsion to look away, or do anything other than look at, your future, goals, or plans.
• Whenever you try to be positive, or optimistic, your mind immediately shows you a lot of negative things from the past.
• When you think of the past, your mind quickly remembers a lot of bad times and situations.

The end result of your mind doing all this to you, in collaboration with your body, is you feel terrible whenever you think of tomorrow or yesterday so you are stuck with reacting in the moment, but without a plan or any way of getting things accomplished (even if you can think of things you would like to accomplish, fleetingly). Part of the problem is, you CAN think of the things you would like to do, accomplish and have. So you CAN set a goal - up to the part where you need to set a deadline (which necessitates you looking into the future) which is when the unpleasant feeling arise in your body and your mind goes blank.

The good news is, the past six months has not been pleasant but it has also NOT been in vain. I am now at the stage of learning how to overcome it.

If you are interested in finding out how to avercome the symptoms I've listed above, it would really help if you could let me know. You can contact me via my website at www.self-improvement.org.uk or leave a comment here.