RENEWAL TECHNOLOGIES

Helping People and Organizations Grow

The Renewal Times
April, 2005.
ISSN 1705-3773 The Renewal Times

The Renewal Times is a publication of Renewal Technologies and is edited by Roger Ellerton.

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Please note: The material in this newsletter is presented for information only. It is not a substitute for medical, psychological or professional advice. Please consult a qualified professional.

Included in this newsletter:

• Thought for the day
  
• Health Notes
  
• Upcoming Seminars
  
• Feature Article
  
• Humour
  
• News
  
• More Information
  

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Thought for the Day
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Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.

         Henry Thoreau

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Health Notes
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Pressure Around Your Neck can Harm Your Eyes

If your shirt collars, ties, or scarves are worn too tightly around your neck, it could have an impact on your eyesight, research suggests. In a recent study, a necktie that was tied too tightly increased the pressure of fluid within the wearer's eyes. Over time, such increases in fluid pressure could raise a person's risk of glaucoma.

Be sure to loosen your tie before you have your eyes examined. A tight necktie could increase fluid pressure in the eye and possibly cause a false diagnosis of glaucoma. If you can't easily slide a finger or two between the garment and your skin, it's probably too constrictive for good health.

Effect of a tight necktie on intraocular pressure. Teng, C., Gurses-Ozden, R., Liebmann, J. M., Tello, C., Ritch, R., British Journal of Ophthalmology 2003 Aug;87(8):946-948.

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Citrus for a Sunny Disposition

Sipping some folate-rich orange juice in the morning may give you reason to smile.

Diets that contain ample amounts of folate-rich foods, such as orange juice, keep homocysteine levels in check. Scientists recently found a connection between homocysteine levels and emotional well-being. In a study, people with high levels of homocysteine in their blood were more likely to experience depression.

Other food sources of folate include asparagus, artichokes, apples, spinach, and lima beans. Many breads, cereals, and pastas are fortified with folic acid, the synthetic form of folate. One medium orange contains about 40 micrograms of folate. For optimum RealAge benefits, try to get 700 micrograms of folate per day from food and supplements.

Folate, vitamin B12, homocysteine, and the MTHFR 677C->T polymorphism in anxiety and depression: the Hordaland Homocysteine Study. Bjelland, I., Tell, G. S., Vollset, S. E., Refsum, H., Ueland, P. M., Archives of General Psychiatry 2003 Jun;60(6):618-626.

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Upcoming Seminars / Workshops
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NLP Practitioner Training

Seven consecutive days: July 4 - 10, 2005
or
Three week-ends: September 23 - 25, 30, October 1- 2, 14 - 16, 2005.

NLP Master Practitioner Training

Take your NLP knowledge and abilities to the next level!

April 1 - 3, 22 - 24, May 13 - 15, 27 - 29, June 10 - 12, 2005

For our most recent schedule and a description of these workshops/seminars, please Click Here!

For the location of our Training Centre in Ottawa (Stittsville), Ontario, please Click Here!

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Feature Article
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NLP Submodalities

Modalities and Submodalities

We have five basic senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory. In NLP, these are referred to as representational systems or modalities. For each of these modalities, we can have finer distinctions. We could describe a picture as being black and white or colour, or it could also be bright or dim. Sounds could be loud or soft, or coming from a particular direction. Feelings could be in different parts of the body or have different temperatures. Smells could be pleasant or offensive, strong or light. Taste could be sweet or bitter or strong or mild. These finer distinctions are called submodalities and define the qualities of our internal representations. Generally, we work with only three modalities -- visual, auditory and kinesthetic. However, you be working with a client on an issue where the olfactory or gustatory submodalities play a major role e.g. a food issue or someone who is a chef. People have known about and worked with submodalities for centuries. For example, Aristotle referred to qualities of the senses, but did not use the term submodalities.

Some of the more common submodalities are:

The visual submodality Associated/Dissociated is a very important and refers to whether or not you can see yourself in the picture (visual internal representation). You are associated if you can not see yourself in the picture. Often we refer to this as ‘looking through your own eyes’. If you can see yourself in the picture, then we say you are dissociated.

If you are associated in a memory, then your feelings (happy, sad, fearful) about that memory will be more intense. If you are dissociated, this is more like watching a movie of your life rather than being there (on the playing field) and any feelings will be less intense or not at all.

Illustrative Exercises

The following two exercises illustrate how submodalities work. You will be asked to make a picture in your mind (an internal representation). For some of us, the pictures we make in our minds are very clear. For others (and this includes me), the picture is not clear, and yet I have a sense of it being there and if I were asked questions about its qualities (submodalities) I would be able to give an answer. To keep the exercises simple, we will only work with the visual submodalities.

Exercise 1:

Get in a comfortable position, close your eyes and get a picture in your mind of someone you really enjoy being with. When you get this picture, notice the submodalities. That is, is it a bright or dim picture, where is it located, are you associated or dissociated, etc. Once you have done this, open your eyes and clear your mind by stretching and looking around the room. In NLP, this is called a break state.

Again close your eyes and this time get a picture in your mind of someone you do not enjoy being with. Notice the submodalities of this picture and I am sure that you can identify several that are different from the picture of someone you enjoy being with. Once you have done this, break state by stretching and looking around the room.

I am sure you were able to identify several submodalities that were different in the two internal representations.

Generally, we tend to have similar submodalities for the internal representations of people we enjoy being with. The submodalities of the internal representations of people we do not enjoy being with will also be similar submodalities and in some way different from the submodalities of people we enjoy being with. This sameness and difference in submodalities allows us to code our experiences and give meaning to our past and future memories (internal representations).

Submodalities are fun and easy to play with. For example, if the internal representation of someone you do not enjoy being with is large, and up close (i.e. ‘in your face’), what do you think would happen if you made the picture smaller and pushed it away to a comfortable distance? I suspect you would not necessary end up liking this person, however you may find them not so overbearing.

Exercise 2:

For this exercise, I would like you to close your eyes and think of a time when you were very happy. Once you have this picture, make it very dark, shrink it down to a small picture and push it far away. When you did this, what did you notice about your feelings of happiness? Reduced or disappeared? You have just learned a great way to remove happiness from your life – take all your happy memories and make the pictures very dark, small and far away. Of course, I am joking. However, there are some people who tend to discount their happy memories by making them darker, smaller and further away, while making their unpleasant memories big and bright and close. And how do you think they live their lives?

These two examples illustrate that the submodalities you use to store your memories (past and future) give meaning to your memories. We can not change an event that has already happened, however by adjusting the submodalities of the memory we can change how we perceive it and respond to it. This is also true for future events.

Submodalities Key Building Blocks of NLP Techniques

Submodalities are key components to many of the NLP change techniques. Submodalities, by themselves or as part of other techniques, have been used to assist people to stop smoking, eat more of certain foods and less of others, address compulsion issues, change beliefs and values, enhance motivation, move from stress to relaxation, address phobias, etc.

And NLP is Much more than that!

Author: Roger Ellerton is a certified NLP trainer, certified management consultant and the founder and managing partner of Renewal Technologies. He can be reached at Renewal Technologies www.renewal.ca or by e-mail info@renewal.ca

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Humour
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Lawyers

A dog ran into a butcher shop and grabbed a roast off the counter. Fortunately, the butcher recognized the dog as belonging to a neighbor of his. The neighbor happened to be a lawyer.

Incensed at the theft, the butcher called up his neighbor and said, "Hey, if your dog stole a roast from my butcher shop, would you be liable for the cost of the meat?" The lawyer replied, "Of course, how much was the roast?" "$7.98."

A few days later the butcher received a check in the mail for $7.98. Attached to it was an invoice that read: Legal Consultation Service: $150.

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When the man in the street says: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," the lawyer writes:

"Insofar as manifestations of functional deficiencies are agreed by any and all concerned parties to be unperceivable, and are so stipulated, it is incumbent upon said heretofore mentioned parties to exercise the deferment of otherwise pertinent maintenance procedures."

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More Information
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