Question Regarding Practical Magic
 

Mr. Lankton,

I hope that it is alright to ask ask you questions about NLP on this board given that some parts of NLP do not relate to Erickson's work.

In any case, I had a couple of questions regarding your book, Practical Magic.

1. When accessing resources for the collapsing anchors protocol, do you normally ask the client to find a place of safety and security or will other positive experiences, such as happy times or comfortable feelings, work just as well? The reason that I am bringing this issue up is that many of my clients seem to have difficulty accessing any feelings of safety and security given their negative experiences in childhood (this is the reason that they give in therapy). In fact, I have had more than one client say that they have never been safe. However, these clients were able to access happy times etc. Should I just utilize the positive experience that they have?

2. I have noticed that some people seem to not have access to the material behind their representational system. For instance, my friend's eyes often move horizontal right, but he is not aware of any auditory constructions (i.e. he is not consciously aware of hearing anything when I ask him about it). Can you explain why a person might not have access to this material?

Mr. Lankton, do you have any thoughts on this subject would be helpful.

Thanks,

John
Thanks for your patience.

Re: Question Regarding Practical Magic
 

John, I don't consider myself a practitioner of NLP. For example, the mechanistic aspect of the approach seems to allow some to overlook the intuitive and 'humane' logic of simply helping someone relax and feel safe before attempting a 'protocol'.

Your question about the accessing cues for auditory digital processing in the case you mentioned may be a matter of the listener repeating your words prior to attempting an answer and prior to retrieving personal historical material.

As for having any 'positive' experiences or 'safe' experiences in one's life...everyone that made it to your office has some or they'd probably be dead by now. They simply don't/didn't code and store their experiences as safe, comfortable, fun, love, joy, happy, etc., over the years. I often help clients learn to collect positive feelings and label them 'big' (like a smile is 'love') and ignore or diminish negative experience. We all need to form new habits about that and practice doing it. If we only collect large negative experiences then that's what we will bump into when we do a mental search. We get that way from our response to parenting. It's up to us to change it.

As for collapsing anchors when someone is already upset....what's your hurry? Another 10 min or another 10 days will hardly matter if they have had the image(s) for years anyway. Take some time, change the topic, get them talking about what they do well (even if what they do well is flub things up). When they have initiated such a mind set, then go back to the work at hand.

Re: Question Regarding Practical Magic
 

Mr Lankton,

Thanks for your input! When I read new material, I try to maximize my learning by trying to relate it to past clients that I have seen or situations that I have encountered. In this case, I remembered that many of my clients say that they do not have any experiences with safety/security/love etc., and I was not sure how to overcome the obstacle. I view it as though I was standing on the shore while looking at a beautiful island, but it’s too far to swim and I do not have a boat. Thanks for the bridge! I really appreciate your comment about "labeling big." I will definitely use that with my clients next time. Probably much sooner than I will ever use collapsing anchors.