RENEWAL TECHNOLOGIES

Helping People and Organizations Grow

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

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

This newsletter may be republished without permission, provided it is reproduced in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged. To reproduce sections of the newsletter, please contact Renewal Technologies at info@renewal.ca.

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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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Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.

         Robert Collier

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Health Notes
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Add Laughter to Your Menu

If you have diabetes, make sure you put laughter on the menu when planning your meals. Positive emotions such as laughter may help to control spikes in blood sugar levels after a meal. People in a study who watched a funny video during dinner had lower blood sugar levels after the meal compared to the people who watched a lecture video during dinner. Keeping blood sugar levels stable will help to ward off diabetic complications.

Studies have revealed that laughter may decrease blood pressure, boost the immune system, and trigger the release of endorphins, the body's natural mood-boosting chemicals. A good belly laugh also can be a great workout for your stomach muscles. Add more laughter to your life by watching funny movies each week, sharing laughs often with close friends, and reading your favorite comic strip each day. To make meals more fun, eat with family members or special friends. Watching television while dining may encourage overeating.

Laughter lowered the increase in postprandial blood glucose. Hayashi, K., Hayashi, T., Iwanaga, S., Kawai, K., Ishii, H., Shoji, S., Murakami, K., Diabetes Care 2003 May;26(5):1651-1652.

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Leisure Time Improves Your Health

How you use your leisure time will make a difference in your heart health.

A recent study revealed that people who often engage in leisure time physical activities, such as going for a bike ride or taking a walk, have a lower risk of heart disease compared to people who pass their free time less actively. Two hours per week of leisure time activities decreased heart disease risk by as much as 61 percent.

There are many enjoyable physical activities that you can incorporate into your leisure time for better heart health. Try gardening, playing games with your kids, going sightseeing or window shopping, playing sports, or working on home improvement projects. When it's cold outside, go ice skating, cross country skiing, or sledding. Take advantage of warmer weather by hiking outside or learning a water sport, such as sailing, canoeing, or kayaking.

Physical activity, coronary heart disease, and inflammatory response. Rothenbacher, D., Hoffmeister, A., Brenner, H., Koenig, W., Archives of Internal Medicine 2003 May 26;163(10):1200-1205.

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Upcoming Seminars / Workshops
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Introductory NLP Evening

June 1, 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Please come as our guest. Invite a friend to come with you. Registration is required so that we can reserve a seat for you. E-mail your name and the number of people attending to info@renewal.ca. For the location of our Training Centre, please visit www.renewal.ca/nlptraining.htm. For more information, please visit www.renewal.ca/freeseminar.htm.

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 Swish Pattern

The Swish Pattern is a useful technique to help people address an unwanted behaviour response to a specific stimulus by changing key submodalities. Compulsive or obsessive behaviours, such as an uncontrollable desire to bite your nails, smoke, eat certain foods, or habits are often linked with a trigger or cue image.

For example, I used this technique with a woman who was a model. For many of her modeling assignments, she would drive from Ottawa to Toronto (minimum 5 hours) and on the way, she would snack on potato chips. First, I verified with her that this was an unwanted behaviour and also checked that there was no secondary gain. I asked her what she would like to do instead and she said to eat apples. My task was to unlink the initial mental image (thinking of eating potato chips) from the act of eating potato chips and link it to eating an apple.

1. Have your client identify a specific behaviour that he wishes to change and the cue image that starts the process.
   
   
2. Have your client identify a new self image with the desired behaviour(s) that satisfies the positive intent of the undesired behaviour. Have him generate a picture of this new self-image.

   Our task now is to link the cue image in step 1 with the new self image in step 2.

3. Check the ecology of the new self image and associated behaviour(s).

   Have the client assess the impact of this new behaviour on himself (what will he have to give up or take on), his family, friends, co-workers, community, etc.

4. Identify at least two submodalities that reduce the desire for the behaviour in step 1 and increase the desire for the new self image in step 2.

   Ask the client to get a picture of the behaviour in step 1 and then have him adjust different submodalities and notice which ones reduce the desire for this behaviour. For example, he may find that reducing the brightness and defocusing the picture reduces the desire for the behaviour in step 1. The submodalities should be those that vary over a continuous range e.g. brightness, size, focus, etc.

   Now ask the client to get a picture of the new self-image and behaviour (step 2) and notice if the desire for this behaviour is increased as the submodalities identified in the previous paragraph are changed in the opposite direction. That is, increasing the brightness and improving the focus makes the new self image in step 2 more compelling.

   It is possible to do the Swish Pattern with an auditory or kinesthetic cue. In this case you would use auditory or kinesthetic submodalities. However, the process is easiest if you use a visual cue.

   Remember to break state when switching between behaviours.

   For the rest of the procedure, I will assume that the critical submodalities are brightness and focus.

5. Have your client take the cue picture and make it big, bright and clearly focused. In a corner of this picture (let’s say the lower right hand corner), have your client put a small dark and defocused picture of the new self image and related behaviour.

   The client should be associated in the cue picture (i.e. can not see himself in the picture, he is looking through his own eyes), while the picture of the new self image must be dissociated to be motivating and attractive. An associated picture gives your client the feeling that he has already made the change, and therefore it will not be motivating for him.

6. Have your client make the cue picture smaller, darker and defocused as the picture of the new self image gets bigger, brighter and focused. Continue until the cue picture is a small dark, defocused picture in the lower right hand corner of a big bright, focused picture of the new self image.
   
   
7. Have your client take a moment to enjoy this new self-image and the resources that he now has available to him.
   
   
8. Break state. Have your client repeat steps 5, 6 and 7, but this time have him do step 6 faster.

   It is important to break state after step 7. We want to create a compelling direction from the cue picture to the new self image. If we did not break state, then we would set up a cycle where the new self-image leads back to the cue picture.

9. Have your client repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 until he has done it at least 7 times and step six takes a fraction of a second to complete.

   This is why it is called Swish Pattern – in less time than it takes to quickly say swish, the client has completed step 6. Speed is essential in step 6.

10. Test and future pace. Have your client think of the cue. Does he now think of the new self image and related behaviours? Great!

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 woman and her little girl were visiting the grave of the little girl's grandmother. On their way through the cemetery back to the car, the little girl asked, "Mommy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?"

"Of course not, dear." replied the mother, "Why would you think that?"

"The tombstone back there said 'Here lies a lawyer and an honest man.'"

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A man died and was taken to his place of eternal torment by the devil. As he passed sulfurous pits and shrieking sinners, he saw a man he recognized as a lawyer snuggling up to a beautiful woman.

"That's unfair !" he cried. "I have to roast for all eternity, and that lawyer gets to spend it with a beautiful woman."

"Shut up!" barked the devil, jabbing him with his pitchfork. "Who are you to question that woman's punishment?"

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More Information
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For more information, please visit our website or contact us at 613 692-1424 or info@renewal.ca

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